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Library of The Theological Seminary 


PRINCETON : NEW JERSEY 


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PURCHASED BY THE 
HAMILL MISSIONARY FUND 
F 909 .J163 1926 
Faris, John Thomson, 1871- 
1949. | 
The Alaskan pathfinder; the 
story of Sheldon Jackson 











SHELDON JACKSON, THE ALASKAN PATHFINDER 
In His Fur Suit FoR SUMMER USE IN ALASKA. 


bard 


a 
4 


\A 


The Alaskan Paiainder 


THE STORY OF 
SHELDON JACKSON 


BY 
JOHN T. FARIS 


Author of Making Good,” ‘‘ Men Who Made Good,” 
“* Winning the Oregon Country,”’ etc. 


WITH INTRODUCTION BY 


JOHN A. MARQUIS, D.D. 


General Secretary, Board of National Missions, 
Presbyterian Church, U.S. A. 





New Yorr CHICAGO 


Fleming H. Revell Company 


LONDON AND EDINBURGH 


f 


Copyright, 1913, 1926, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 99 George Street 


Introduction to New Edition 


BY 
JOHN A. MARQUIS, D.D. 


General Secretary, Board of National Missions, 
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. 


HIS book is more than a history; it is an 
appreciation, an appraisal with the per- 
spective of a generation. During Shel- 

don Jackson’s lifetime the Church and the nation 
recognized his value to both as a “pathfinder” and 
maker of the future America, but neither of them 
appreciated, nor could appreciate at that time, the 
full meaning and value of his service. The field 
of his activities covered an Empire. From the 
territory in which he pioneered for civilization 
and Christianity, there have been carved the 
great prairie states west of the Missouri, in the 
Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest— 
nearly half a continent. 

Sheldon Jackson was among those who laid 
the spiritual foundations on which the moral 
character and spiritual idealism of those great 
regions have been built. He was a sort of spir- 
itual Cecil Rhodes. It is significant that the 
states where he pioneered are those that are tak- 


3 


4 Introduction to New Edition 


ing the strongest and most advanced stand today 
in industrial and social improvement, prohibition, 
etc. The Puritans were no mightier than he as 
foundation-makers and as builders of social 
righteousness. 

It is with Alaska, however, that his name will 
always be most prominently connected. His 
work there was so monumental that it fills one 
with amazement to learn, as he reads these pages, 
that it was only a part-time job. When the 

ited States Government purchased Alaska 
ia Russia, Secretary Seward for the Govern- 
ment definitely promised to secure to the natives 
all the “rights, advantages and immunities of citi-. 
zens of the United States,” which promise the 
Government immediately proceeded to forget. It 
is to Sheldon Jackson more than to any other 
man that the credit is due for prodding the off- 
cials at Washington to a sense of the debt of 
honor they owed to the natives of Alaska and 
to their promise to Russia. This is not the only 
instance where private citizens have had to dis- 
charge obligations of honor which government 
officials assumed and then neglected. 

There is abundant romance as well as heroism 
in the story Dr. Faris unfolds of Sheldon Jack- 
son’s struggles in maintaining the honor of the 
United States in its dealings with the natives of 
Alaska. As in many another case, his severest 
struggle was not with the natives, savages though 


bs. 


Introduction to New Edition 5 


they were when he first went among them, but 
with the politicians and traders who were fat- 
tening on them. The story is told of a political 
editor in those early days who attacked Dr. 
Jackson in practically every issue of his paper, 
calling him a grafter, a meddler and a general 
nuisance, and always referring to him as “Shell- 
game” Jackson. It is significant that the same 


paper today scarcely has an issue that does not 


laud Dr. Jackson for his great service to “the 
Empire of Alaska.” f 
The beginnings of things in a new country are 


generally productive of heroes, and Alaska is no 


exception; Sheldon Jackson, S. Hall Young and 
Archdeacon Stuck will always have a place in the 
history of America’s North; but the chief place, 
the place of clear vision where others could not 
see, and of leadership where others faltered, 
must always be given to Sheldon Jackson. Mis- 
sionary, Explorer, Educator and Social Builder, 
his story must not be forgotten. 


New York CIty. 


Acknowledgment 


While much of the material for “ Zhe 
Alaskan Pathfinder” has been taken from 
the diaries and other records of Sheldon 
Jackson, the splendid volume “ Sheldon 
Jackson,’ by Dr. Robert L. Stewart, has 
been found invaluable. Several chapters 
are based on corresponding chapters in his 
book. In a number of cases where it has 
seemed unwise to interrupt the narrative by 
the use of quotations, incidents have been 
told in Dr. Stewart's words, by his kind per- 
mission. 

It is the hope of the author that this vol- 
ume will awaken such an interest in the 
hardy pioneer that those who read it will 
desire to study Dr. Stewart’s exhaustive 
book. 


Preface 


“The next speaker will be our stalwart 
friend from the Rocky Mountains—Dr. Shel- 
don Jackson.” 


r “HERE was a momentary pause as the 
presiding officer of a large gathering 
looked around expectantly for the ap- 

pearance of the speaker. 

Then from all parts of the house there was a 
look of surprise and a burst of laughter as there 
came forward a man so short and slight as to 
seem almost ludicrous in view of the expectations 
aroused by the announcement. 

The first words of the little doctor changed the 
laughter to applause : : 

«“ If I had been more stalwart, I could not have 
slept so many nights on the four-and-a-half foot 
seat of a Rocky Mountain stage.” 

Then Dr. Jackson—who had been mistaken 
for another man of the same name—told a thrill- 
ing story of some of the incidents of his work. 

Sleeping on the four-and-a-half foot seat of a 
Rocky Mountain stage must have seemed to Dr. 
Jackson unusual luxury, for during the years of 
his pioneer service he slept in far more uncom- 


” 


8 Preface 


fortable places. Many times he slept on the floor 
—but he thought nothing of this. In 1875, after 
travelling by stage-coach until one o’clock in the 
morning, he stretched his weary frame on a bil- 
iard table, and slept for two hours before renew- 
ing his journey. In 1877, after a day spent in 
climbing along Colorado precipices, he came to 
a lonely log cabin, but found that no bed could 
be offered him. So he spread his blankets on a 
pile of shingles, and was soon sound asleep. 
Again he was overtaken by night when ten 
thousand feet up on the side of a mountain, and 
pitched camp in aclump of tall pines. The snow 
was nearly two feet deep, and the cold was in- 
tense. With great labour he and his travelling 
companion heaped up a pile of logs three or four 
feet high, for a fire which sent the sparks to the 
top of the tallest pines, and lighted up the woods 
all around. The horses were tied on one side of 
the fire to keep them from the mountain lions, 
and the men laid pine boughs on the top of the 
snow for a bed. Upon this they took turns in 
sleeping, the one whose turn it was to keep awake 
standing guard against the mountain lions. 
Again, while crossing a summit of the Rockies, 
the blankets were spread on the ground by the 
fire, but the night was too cold and the blankets 
too few to allow sleep. So the hardy pioneer 
rose at two in the morning, continued his journey 
until nine o’clock—and then threw himself on a 


Preface 9 


board bench before a cabin. There he slept for 
hours. In 1881, in Alaska, just after overseeing 
the unloading of a cargo of lumber and window 
sash from the steamer on which he had been 
travelling for several weeks, he made a hollow 
in one of the lumber piles, where—rolled in his 
blankets—he slept every night for a week, until 
the schoolhouse for which the lumber was in- 
tended could be completed. 

And what of the days following such nights? 
Sometimes he spent the hours on horseback ; 
many times he was on foot, and felt fortunate 
when he could get a lift in a passing wagon or 
sleigh. Sometimes he rode on a railway, but 
not always on a passenger train; freight and con- 
struction trains knew him frequently. Often he 
was a passenger on a stage-coach, a buckboard 
or an army ambulance, a lumber wagon, an ox- 
cart. He had his experiences with bucking 
bronchos, reindeer sledges and mule teams. 
When he took to the water, he was not averse 
to using a regular passenger steamer, but he was 
at home in a dugout, a launch, a canoe, a revenue 
cutter, a war vessel, a schooner or a cattle ship. 

Centuries ago Paul wrote that he had been in 
perils of rivers,in perils of robbers . . . in 
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, 
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. 
This modern Paul—if he had taken the time— 
could have told of like perils. Once he rode with 


10 Preface 


his rifle on his knee, for fear of Indians. Several 
times he was under fire. Many times he was in 
danger from the cold. He knew what it was to 
be without necessary food. He was a passenger 
in a stagé-coach when it plunged over a preci- 
pice into a stream, and he escaped only bya 
timely jump. 

Why did this pioneer make these perilous 
journeys? Let this volume answer the question. 


h Foes bea 6 
Philadelphia, Pa. 


Contents 


I. SHELDON JACKSON, THE Boy . : 


“Fire! ’’—A dedicated life—Ten miles to church, 
in the snow—Play and work—Indian tales— 
Appointed a teacher among the Indians. 


II. THE West To WHICH SHELDON 
Jackson WENT . : : : 


«The Great American Desert”—Pushing back 
the desert—Travel on “ The Plains ”’—Indian 
marauders—The buffalo herds—Buffalo wallows 
—Foreign missionaries in the home land. 


Ill. A WINTER AMONG THE INDIANS : 


A roundabout journey—Difficulties of pioneer 
travel—Sheldon Jackson’s thirty Indian boys— 
A busy sick man—TIn an Indian camp. 


IV. Ten YEARS AS A“ BEGINNER” . ; 


Three hundred dollars a year—A parish “ a hun- 
dred miles or so around ”—Four hundred miles 
on foot—A friend in need—Frozen face, aching 
joints, and other ills—Getting lumber under diffi- 
culties—Longing for harder work. 


V. <A PIONEER ON THE TRAIL : : 

Finding a large job—Dividing the field—An in- 

vitation to drink—An uncomfortable lodging— 

On guard against the Indians—Facing half a 

dozen revolvers—An explanation that might 

have been too late—An Indian fight—Crossing 

a swollen stream—Remarkable endurance— 
Strapped to the top of a stage-coach. 


VI. “Tue BisHor or ALL OuTpDOORS” ¢ 


Scaling the summit—Mountain scenery—A log 
cabin camp—dZigzagging up an_ ice-field— 
Where a misstep meant death—A thousand-foot 
slide on the snow—Losing the trail—A pine-tree 

\ staircase—To town on burro back—In the path 


it 


17 


22 


27 


“34 


40 


46 


12 Contents 


of the death-dealing avalanche—A forest fire— 
Utes on the war-path—Making a new trail— 
Riding a landslide. 


VII. ~In THE Lanp oF MONTEZUMA Pa Bee 


In the Taos pueblo—A strange dwelling—The 
sacred fire—The tradition of Montezuma—A 
strange reception—Cleaning the church—Prim- 
itive customs—Difficult staging—An interrupted 
sleep—Off the trail—When water was scarce— 
A sand-storm in the desert—Why Dr. Jackson 
was able to endure hardship. 


VIII. Prrirs AMONG THE INDIANS . . 69 


Seeking Indian children—Difficulty on difficulty 
—Shivering around a _ red-hot stove—Un- 
pleasant travelling companions—Lost in the 
desert—Forty miles on a flat car—Typical In- 
dian pupils—Apaches on the war-path—A 
disgruntled chief— Threatening Mexicans— 
Drunken guards—Rescued from a quicksand— 
In a darkened railway car—Safe at last. 


IX. NEw FIELDS TO CONQUER. Rael 


Like Kit Carson and Daniel Boone—The call of 
Alaska —“ Seward’s Folly”—A vast empire— 
A broken promise—Death-dealing traders—The 
cry that Sheldon Jackson heard. 


ic How THE Way Was OPENED mete 


Throwing himself away—Native missionaries— 
Eight Christian wood-cutters—A native school- 
teacher—The soldier’s letter that moved Sheldon 
Jackson—-The first school—The first church— 
The testimony of the Indians—Building a thou- 
sand miles from a hardware store—Salvaging a 
wrecked salmon cannery, 


Rr IN AN INDIAN CANOE ., : . 102 


Travelling in Alaska—With eighteen Indians in 
a thirty-five foot canoe—Cheering the rowers— 
The Indians who kept Sunday—A varied diet 
—Clubbing salmon—Twenty-three hours’ work 
a day—Riding the waves—Sleeping in the rain 
—‘ Beat steamboat!”—A delayed reception— 
The Indians’ plea—A deserted village—A canoe 
mail route. 


Contents 


XII. Aw OFFICER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 


Pleading for the Alaskans’ rights—Doing double 
work—Brave teachers—Abandoning a village to 
go to school—A princely salary—The Leo’s 
strange burden —A stormy voyage—Travelling 
eighty miles to school—Dirt houses—Why the 
goats were killed—A crowded schoolroom—In 
a native house. 


XIII. WuirHIn THE ARCTIC CIRCLE 4 


Heroes of the North—« To talk English to the 
dog ’—The missionary’s plea—-Eskimo porters 
—Building a schoolhouse—A lonely teacher— 
The midnight sun—Pancakes as a reward—A 
night twenty-four days long—The Graveyard of 
Ships—In the ice pack—Farthest north—Trans- 
formation—“ Speaking strong all the one way.” 


XIV. A SEVEN YEARS’ FIGHT : i 


“You'll catch it from your father ”—-Dr. Jackson’s 
hardest battle—The rebellion of Shus-taks—The 
Christians’ agreement—Toy-a-att’s appeal to 
Washington—Besieging Congress—-Victory at 
last—Trumped-up indictments—Arrested—The 
President interferes—Vindicated. 


XV. In NoRTHERN WATERS ; A 


Battling with the breakers—Climbing a precipice 
—A dangerous launching—A mysterious message 
—Rescuers rewarded—Capsized—Strange re- 
quests—Emptying liquor into the sea—A ven- 
turesome bride and groom—A wonderful cave— 
An impenetrable ice wall—Fast to an iceberg. 


XVI. THE ROMANCE OF THE REINDEER . 


“ Bym-by kill um ’—What became of George— 
The starving man’s dilemma—Slaughtering the 
seal and the walrus—A startling proposition— 
Undiscouraged—Climbing over obstacles. 


XVII. BARGAINING WITH SIBERIAN HERD- 
ERS . ° ° 


Goods for barter—A school of whales—« Land all 
around ”——Mail for twenty ships—The natives 
and their umiaks—A race—The ten policemen, 


I3 


I1lQ~- 


118 


130 - 


143 


155 


14 


Contents 


and their salaries—The failure of Shoo-Fly— 
The interpreter’s pay—Bartering for deer— 
Tricky natives—A wealthy Siberian—A walrus 
hunt—The first deer. 


XVIII. Success 1n SPITE OF DIFFICULTIES 
Disappointed again—The Teller Reindeer Station 


XIX. 


—Landing the deer—A week in the ice pack— 
A race with the ice—Difficult natives—The first 
trained deer—-Apprentice herdsmen—“ The most 
remarkable journey ever made by reindeer ”— 
Rescuing imperilled seamen—The first Reindeer 
Post Route—The varied uses of the reindeer. 


To THE RESCUE . 5 : ; 


A hasty summons—Starving miners—A flying 


+ KX, 


journey—Three thousand miles in the snow— 
Six hasty marriages—Twelve hardy mail carriers 
—Loading the ship—A nine days’ storm—An 
uncomfortable stateroom—A mission completed 
—How the reindeer were used. 


“ THE LitTLe MISSIONARY DELE- 
GATE From ALASKA” , : 


What happened between trips—Why Sheldon 


XXI. 


Jackson was short—Forty years of pioneering— 
A man of Paul’s size—“ The rough, heroic figure 
of the century ”’—Off again for Alaska, 


“ LIKE A Majestic LINER” . ‘ 


The last cruise—Enemies renew attacks—Vindi- 


cation—Working till the last—The end of the 
voyage. 


, XXII. Srcrers or SHELDON Jackson’s 


ACHIEVEMENTS : : ; 


Energetic — Methodical — Prompt — Thorough— 


Practical—A man of vision—Accurate—Sympa- 
thetic—Trustworthy—A man of executive ability 
—A judge of men—Generous—Patient—Making 
allowances for others—Ready to acknowledge 
mistakes—Not self-seeking—Able to keep his 
temper—Never looked down on his work—De- 
pendence upon God—Did not worry—A man of 
prayer. 


176 


190 


200 


209 


213 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sheldon Jackson, The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Frontispiece 
Homes of His Childhood and Youth...... “17 
Crossing the Platte in Overland Days.... 27 


Indians Attacking the Frontier Stage Coach 42 


PATONG P EDGE TICD LOS Ne Cory ivee willing rats a 58 
By Cutter and Canoe in the Arctic Ocean.. 76 
PHewsods ouither Alaskans, wien ew et 83 
Buide ran Alaskans Ganoevn ae tty, 102 
Pravelling \by;) Reindeer“Team iii) 03.0. 185 


Dehorned Lapland Reindeer on the Way 
OOD Tart Ne Cl beg MS UL A UE Ie ANN 198 








if 


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i* 





HOMES OF- HIS CHILDHOOD AND YO@rRe: 
t. Sheldon Jackson’s birthplace. 2. Presbyterian Church of 
Esperance. 3. Farmhouse. Home of his childhood and youth. 1840-58. 


I 
SHELDON JACKSON, THE BOY 


“ Five!"—A dedicated life—Ten mules to 
church, in the snow—Play and work— 
Indian tales—Appointed a teacher among 
the Indians. 


NE day in 1834 there was heard the cry 
() of “ Fire!” in the little village of Mina- 
ville, New York. On investigation the 
villagers discovered that the home of Samuel 
Clinton Jackson was burning. They hurried to 
the aid of the endangered occupants, and assisted 
Mrs. Jackson to escape with her baby boy, Shel- 
don Jackson, who was born on May 18 of that 
year. Then they turned their attention to the 
fire, which was extinguished before much damage 
had been done. 

When Sheldon was four years old, his father 
and mother told God their desire that their boy 
should become a minister of the Gospel. It was 
their hope that he would be, not a pastor in some 
wealthy church in the East, but a missionary in 
a difficult field. | 

In 1840 Mr. Jackson moved to a farm ten 
miles from the church of which he was a member. 
The long road to the old church was hilly, In 


17 


18 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


the spring and fall it was seldom free from mud 
and ruts; in the summer it was rough and stony, 
and in the winter the exposed places were fre- 
quently blocked for weeks with the drifting snows. 
Years later Sheldon Jackson wrote his recollec- 
tions of the Sunday journeys over these roads: 

“In the short days of winter on Sabbath morn- 
ing the chores were done, preparation made, and 
breakfast was over before daylight. The team 
was hitched up, buffalo robes, blankets and straw, 
with the necessary axe and shovel, were placed in 
the sleigh; and as the family locked the doors, 
and went out from the home they carried with 
them the lunch-basket and a three-inch oak | 
plank, or soap-stone, that had been heated in the 
oven of the stove, to keep their feet warm. On 
these ten-mile trips, going and returning from 
church, it was not an uncommon occurrence for 
the sleigh to upset, or the horses to get down in 
the snow. In such case, a buffalo robe would be 
spread on the snow upon which would be placed 
the mother and daughter. Then, while the son 
was stationed at the horses’ heads, the father 
would loosen the traces and right the sled or help 
up the team. Frequently, on these occasions, a 
panel would be broken out of the road fence with 
the axe and a path shovelled through the drifts 
into the neighbouring field, where the sled could _ 
make progress parallel with the road, until a place 
was reached where the drifts were passable.” 


Sheldon Jackson, the Boy 19 


When the village was reached, and the team 
was put away in the barn, Mr. Jackson would 
shovel the path from the street to the church 
door, light the fire, and ring the church bell. 
After the service, a basket lunch would be eaten. 
Then the family would return home, weary after 
their twenty mile ride. 

Many of the Jacksons’ neighbours did not go 
to church, so Mr. Jackson started a weekly 
prayer-meeting and a monthly missionary meet- 
ing, which met at different homes. Sheldon was 
a regular attendant, and the impression made 
on him then had much to do with directing his 
thoughts to his life-work—just as the example of 
his father in making long journeys to church and 
acting as pioneer for others through the snows 
implanted in him the desire to do similar things 
when he came to manhood. 

During the week Sheldon and Louise—who 
were always together—delighted to play under 
the horse chestnuts and the elms on the lawn, to 
clamber down the banks of the picturesque little 
glen near the house, to visit the apple trees in the 
orchard, or to wander here and there on the farm. 

When he was old enough Sheldon had his part 
in the tasks of the farm. During the summer he 
was soon depended on for a man’s work in the 
hay-field; during the winter he did the chores 
before and after school. 

It was only a short distance from the house to 


20 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


the school. Sheldon and Louise were compan- 
ions there, as at all other places. Many a time 
when the snow was deep the brother drew his 
sister on a sled to the schoolhouse. Then at 
recess what glorious times they would have on 
the snow and ice! However, study was not 
neglected. Fortunately good teachers were in 
charge, as a rule. One of these had the gift of 
inspiring his pupils to do good work, and to 
earnest Christian living. Remembering that the 
boys and girls under his care lived in a part of 
the state where pioneers had faced the Indians in 
many bloody encounters, he made them familiar 
with the events of the Indian wars'of the Mohawk 
and Schoharie valleys. Sheldon was especially 
interested in the story of the self-sacrificing lives 
of David Brainerd and David Zeisberger, mis- 
sionaries among the Indians not far from his own 
home. Eagerly the boy devoured books which 
told of these men. Other books in which he de- 
lighted were “ Pilgrim’s Progress,” Washington 
Irving’s works, and some of Scott’s novels. 
During the years spent in the academy, the 
college and the seminary, missionaries became 
more than ever his heroes, and his friends were 
not surprised when—in 1857—he asked to besent 
by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions as 
a foreign missionary. But it was thought that he — 
was not strong enough to endure the work on the 
foreign field, so he was told that he had better 


Sheldon Jackson, the Boy 21 


work among the Indian tribes of the United 
States. 

On February 27, 1858, he was appointed to 
a teacher’s position in the mission school for 
Choctaw Indian boys at Spencer, Indian Terri- 
tory. In April he graduated, on May 5 he 
was ordained to the ministry, and on May 18 
—his twenty-fourth birthday—-he was married to 
Miss Mary Voorhees, who lived two miles from 
his early home at Minaville, 

Then he faced the future courageously and 
hopefully. He had longed to go to Siam, but he 
was content to do as he was told—though he felt 
he had an iron constitution. 

It is worth while to read a comment made, 
many years later, by a worker who called atten- 
tion to the action requiring him to remain on the 
home field: 

“T think that the Board would be rather sur- 
prised to see him now, after forty years of service, 
compared to which Siam would have been < car- 
tied to the skies on flowery beds of ease.’ He 
can endure more hardships, travel, hard work, 
and exposure this minute than half the college 
football players, and he looks ten years younger 
than his sixty-four years.” 


i 


THE WEST TO WHICH SHELDON JACKSON 
WENT 


“The Great American Desert” —Pushing 
back the desert—Travel on “The Plains” 
—Indian marauders—The buffalo herds— 
Buffalo wallows—foreign missionaries iM 
the home land. 


HEN Sheldon Jackson studied geogra- 

WW phy the map of that section of the 

United States east of the Mississippi 
River looked much as do the maps in the geog- 
raphies studied to-day. But the map of the im- 
mense territory west of the Mississippi River was 
a startling contrast to that displayed in the 
modern books. Practically the whole of the 
country west of the Missouri River was called 
the “ Great American Desert.” 

General Custer, who was killed by the Indians 
in 1876, studied geography at about the same 
time as Sheldon Jackson, and a little while before 
his death he wrote: “It is but a few years ago 
that every schoolboy, supposed to possess the 
rudiments of a knowledge of the geography of 
the United States, could give the boundaries and a 

22 


The West to Which Jackson Went 23 


general description of the Great American Desert : 
on the north bounded by the Upper Missouri, on 
the east by the Lower Missouri and Mississippi ; 
on the south by Texas, and on the west by the 
Rocky Mountains.” All this region was regarded 
as “a sterile and unfruitful tract of land, incapable 
of sustaining either man or beast.” 

A popular book, written some time after Sheldon 
Jackson began his work in the Indian Territory, 
gave these directions : 

“ Draw a line on longitude 100° from British 
America to Texas ; then go eight hundred miles 
westward, and draw another line from British 
America to Mexico, and all the area between 
these two lines—eight hundred by twelve hun- 
dred miles in extent, or in round numbers a million 
square miles—is the ‘ American Desert’: a region 
of varying mountains, desert and rock; of prevail- 
ing drought or complete sterility, broken rarely 
by fertile valleys; of dead volcanoes and sandy 
wastes; of excessive chemicals, dirt gravel and 
other inorganic matter.” 

But as more complete explorations were made 
it was found that portions of this great waste 
were capable of supporting millions, Year by 
year immigrants from the East came into the 
country, found the best lands occupied and pushed 
farther west. To the surprise of many, they 
found land worth taking. Thus year by year the 
desert boundary was pushed back until to-day the 


bi 


24 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


portions of our country which can truly be called 
desert are comparatively small. 

There were then only a few railroads west of 
the Mississippi. The first of the transcontinental 
roads had not been built. Journeys had to be 
made by stage-coaches whose routes gridironed 
‘ the entire Western country. These routes con- 
nected small settlements, some of which have 
developed into towns and cities, while others 
have entirely disappeared. There were those 
who looked forward to the day when the primitive 
coach would give way to the railroad, but many 
others thought there would never be support for 
a railroad across “ The Plains,” as much of “ the 
Great American Desert”’ was renamed after im- 
migrants had made plain the real character of the 
country. 

In the days when Sheldon Jackson first saw 
the Indian Territory, the “ prairie schooner” 
with its freight of men, women and children, and 
household goods, was a common sight. Usually 
the schooners travelled in groups, for the danger 
from marauding Indians was too great to make 
solitary travel advisable. 

The Indians had agreed to keep to reservations 
appointed for them by the government, but many 
of them persisted in breaking the bounds set for 
them, attacking frontier settlements and waiting 
along the various routes by which immigrants 
travelled from the Missouri to the mountains, 


> 


. 


* 


> 


The West to Which Jackson Went 25 


The region considered most dangerous was 
bounded on the north by the valley of the Platte 
River, and on the south by the valley of the 
Arkansas River—parts of Kansas and Nebraska 
extending as far east from Denver as three hun- 
dred miles. It was never known when Indians 
would be on the war-path in other districts, so a 
large portion of the United States army was 
stationed at forts on the plains, ready always to 
drive back the red men to their reservations. 

Great herds of buffalo still roamed northward 
in the spring and southward in the winter. They 
were found in greatest abundance in the region 
where the Indians were most dangerous. Sheldon 
Jackson must have seen them many times as they 
passed in single file from one stream to another 
along the distinct tracks they had marked for 
themselves in the course of centuries—trails 
usually only eight or ten inches wide and from 
two to four inches deep. 

The day was coming when the young mission- 
ary would realize the debt of the traveller on the 
plains to the buffalo. Everywhere in the buffalo 
country there were “ wallows,’—depressions in 
the ground about eight feet in circumference and 
from six to eighteen inches deep. These were 
made by the buffalo bulls in the spring when 
challenging a rival to combat. The process of 
making them has been described by General 
Custer: “ The ground is broken by pawing-—if 


26 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


an animal with a hoof can be said to paw—and 
if the challenge is accepted, as it usually is, the 
combat takes place; after which the one who 
comes off victorious remains in possession of the 
battle-field, and, occupying the wallow of fresh 
upturned earth, finds it produce a cooling sensa- 
tion to his hot and gory sides.” When rain falls 
these wallows are filled with water, which remains 
a long time because of the character of the soil, 
Innumerable travellers far from other water have 
been comforted by thesupply thus provided. As 
Sheldon Jackson was called on to endure all the 
privations of the pioneer in these regions, it is 
altogether likely that he knew what it was to 
quench his thirst with the brackish water in some 
buffalo hole. 

To this country of the buffalo and the Indian 
the young missionary and his bride turned their 
steps. They were not going out of their own 
land, but the region was so remote, and the peo- 
ple were so strange, that it was thought quite fit- 
ting their work should be under the care of the 
Board of Foreign Missions ! 








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FROM LIFE. 


4 


OVERLAND DAYS. 
SKETCHI 


GROSSING = THE ePLA TLE: IN 


Copy oF BIERSTADT’S CELEBRATED PAINTING. 


lil 
A WINTER AMONG THE INDIANS 


A roundabout journey—Difficulttes of pioneer 
travel—Sheldon Jackson's thirty Indian 
boys—A busy sick man—ILn an Indian 
camp. 


he start for the Indian Territory was 
made by Mr. and Mrs. Jackson from - 
Galesburg, Illinois, where Mr. Jackson’s 
father had removed with his family. 

The journey—which to-day may be made ina 
little more than twenty-four hours—required 
three weeks, The route was roundabout. From 
Galesburg to St. Louis progress was easy, for the 
distance could be made by rail. A steamer was 
taken from St. Louis to Napoleon, Arkansas. A 
smaller steamer carried the travellers up the Ar- 
kansas River to Little Rock. The trip was con- 
tinued by stage to Washington, Arkansas, and 
then by wagon to Spencer, the scene of their 
future labours among the Choctaws—a distance 
of one hundred and twenty miles. 

In a letter home Mrs. Jackson gave the story 
of the last stage of this strange wedding journey: 

« We were two days and two nights reaching 

27 


28 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Washington. At Washington the hotel was 
most shocking. If the floor in the room we oc- 
cupied had not been so dirty we would have pre- 
ferred it to the bed. All the furniture the par- 
lour contained was a carpet and looking-glass, 
and two or three chairs, and when meal time came 
they took the chairs out of the room and we 
must needs stand or sit on the floor, which I did 
to the astonishment of the natives. We had 
some difficulty in procuring a hack to bring us 
to Spencer. We finally made arrangements with 
aman and started about four o'clock in the after- 
noon. The next day we rode ten miles, getting 
lost on the way. That night we put up at the 
house of one of the better class of people, and 
had good accommodations and a comfortable 
night’s rest. The next morning we started and 
found that one of the horses was lame, but sup- | 
posed that it would get better after a little while, 
but it grew worse and we were obliged to travel 
slowly. When we had travelled about twenty 
miles, the tire came off one of the wheels. As 
there was no blacksmith’s shop near it was fast- 
ened as well as was possible under the circum- 
stances, and we endeavoured to reach a small 
town ten miles distant where we could have it 
reset; but night overtook us before we reached 
it, and the roads were so bad that it was almost 
impossible to travel after dark. That night we 
put up at a place where we preferred to sleep on 


A Winter Among the Indians 29 


the floor. The next morning the lame horse was 
unable to travel and half the day was lost in pro- 
curing another, and in repairing the damage to 
the carriage. This being Saturday, the deten- 
tion was particularly unfortunate, as we wished to 
reach Mr. Byington’s mission to spend the Sab- 
bath. Night overtook us eighteen miles from this 
station. . . . Monday evening we arrived at 
a place called Depot. Here it was worse than 
ever. We had to share our room with the driver 
and some others, and the bed was alive with 
bugs. We thought the wagon preferable, and 
slept in that the next night.” 

Next day—October 6, 1858,—the missionaries 
reached Spencer, and a few days later they were 
hard at work. 

There were six teachers in the school, three 
men and three women. Each man had charge 
of a department, while his assistant was one of 
the women, a part of whose duty it was to 
care for the clothing of the pupils in the depart- 
ment. 

The thirty boys assigned to the department of 
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were an unruly set, and 
their teacher found his hands full as he sought to 
discipline them, as may be seen from his own 
humorous description of some of his experiences 
with them. In a letter to his parents, written 
about a month after the beginning of his work, 
he said: 


30 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


«My boys are mostly large, and give me a 
good deal of trouble. The missionaries here say 
it was just what they had to pass through. They 
like to try a new teacher, and they do it in every 
conceivable way. Our surest mode of discipline 
is whipping. This I dislike very much. If you 
should deprive a boy of his meal it would make 
a good deal of noise in the tribe, but if you 
should whip him until the blood runs there would 
be nothing said about it. So I have to whip 
them. It is strange how you can calm them 
down. One of them doubled up his fist to in- 
timidate me, but the only effect was to secure 
him a severer whipping. They are very impu- 
dent and stubborn, if allowed to have their own 
way,and sometimes won’t answer a word ; some- 
times refuse to go to class. One day, I found 
under the seat of one of the boys a large hunt- 
ing-knife whetted to a keen edge. I took it in 
keeping for him. Recently one of the larger 
boys wrote me that if I attempted to whip an- 
other boy, he would whip me. By the advice of 
the other teachers I called him to my room and 
was about to turn him out, when he broke down 
completely and said he did not mean it, and 
promised good behaviour in the future, if I 
allowed him to stay. He afterwards said the 
same thing before the whole school.” 

Everybody at the mission was awake early, 
for the routine began at five in the morning, and 


A Winter Among the Indians = 31 


continued until noon, when the head of each de- 
partment carved and served about twenty-five 
or thirty pounds of meat at the dinner-table and 
had oversight of the group for which he was re- 
sponsible. From one o'clock until half-past two 
work in the class room was resumed. From 
half-past two until half-past five the boys chopped 
wood under the direction of the farmer. Then 
Supper was eaten, and after an hour and a half 
which each department head spent with his 
charges, they were sent to bed.. Not until then 
did Mr. Jackson have time for study. 

Before he had been at Spencer three months 
Mr. Jackson saw that he must look for other 
work. His system was poisoned by malaria, and 
a number of times he was unfitted for duty by 
serious attacks of fever. For this reason, and: 
because he longed for a field where he might do 
more effective work, he sent his resignation to 
the Board of Foreign Missions. In the few 
months of his residence there he had begun 
to realize the great needs of the West, and 
he longed for a chance to throw himself into 
the task of preparing the country for the 
millions who would find their way there from 
the East. 

In the months between his resignation and the 
arrival of his substitute it was impossible for him 
to remain long in the schoolroom, since his 
health demanded outdoor exercises. He secured 


32 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


this, and satisfied his appetite for hard work by 
becoming an evangelist in the region about the 
mission. He had six preaching stations during 
the week and three on Sunday. He would not 
give up these when warmer weather brought a 
return of the malaria, but persisted in doing the 
work he had marked out for himself with the 
grim determination that later carried him through 
so many trying experiences. Fortunately we 
have this story of one of his trips: 

“Last Sabbath we had a ‘big meeting,’ or 
communion at Lalibak Station. I went up on 
Friday afternoon, fording three streams that were 
swollen with recent showers. I got there just 
before dark, and it was an interesting scene. 
The people were gathering in slowly. The log 
meeting-house stood on the bank of the last 
stream. It was very amusing to watch the In- 
dian boys as they ferried over chairs, blankets, 
provisions, etc., as well as men and women, the 
water being almost over the ponies’ backs, 

“Near the house were forty or fifty Indians 
gathered around three camp-fires. I was invited 
to take supper with them and accepted the invi- 
tation. The missionaries generally take their 
own provisions, but as they all say it would be 
much better to eat with the people I told them I 
thought I could live on what the Choctaws had. 
At this time we had coffee, without milk or 
sugar; corn bread, baked in the ashes; roast 


.. 


ae 


A Winter Among the Indians 33 


ribs of pork, and another nondescript kind of 
bread. After supper, the horn was blown and 
the people assembled in the log church where I 
preached through an interpreter. 

“The preacher's desk was a hewn log on tegs,. 
much like a carpenter’s horse and the house was 
seated after the same fashion with longer logs 
and shorter legs. After the service was over I 
pushed two of the log seats together—there was 
only two inches difference in height—rolled my-~ 
self up in my blanket, and had a good sleep. 
‘About twenty persons slept in the building. On 
the floor, almost under me, was a Choctaw elder 
with his wife and children of various ages. I 
awoke about midnight and heard the Indians 
singing Choctaw hymns at one camp and at an- 
other a voice in prayer or exhortation.” 

In the summer of 1859 the dauntless mission- 
ary made a tour of exploration to Minnesota. 
There he found his place for future work. 


IV 
TEN YEARS AS A “ BEGINNER ” 


Three hundred dollars a year—A parish “a 
hundred mules or so around”’—Four hun- 
dred miles on foot—A friend in need— 
Frozen face, aching joints, and other tills 
—Getting lumber under difficulties—Long- 
ing for harder work. 


ANY people would have thought the 
M place in Minnesota offered to Shel- 
don Jackson most unattractive. The 
salary promised by the Board of Home Missions » 
was three hundred dollars. Of course more 
might be raised on the field. But the field was 
poor. 
/ Yet the missionary had what he wanted more 
_ than money—an opportunity for hard work that 
would be worth while in the development of the 
country. The spirit in which he accepted his 
opportunity is evident from the way he defined 
his territory. To an inquiring friend, he said: 
«The commission was intended mainly for 
La Crescent, Hokah, and vicinity, meaning the 
schoolhouses within five or six miles around, but 
I interpreted it to mean every community that I 
34 


66 1 9 
Ten Years as a “ Beginner 35 


could reach, and consequently it extended a 
hundred miles or so around.” | 

At La Crescent—a town of fifty or sixty 
houses, without a single church—the pioneers 
made their home. Almost as soon as he had 
moved his goods into a house eighteen by 
twenty-four feet, Mr. Jackson left his wife in 
charge and set out on the first of his journeys of 
exploration for the Church—journeys which were 
to be extended until they covered the entire 
West. 

Many of these trips were made on foot; a 
three hundred dollar salary: would not allow him 
to keep a horse. Yet he managed to cover the 
territory he had mapped out for himself. During 
the first three months he travelled more than a 
thousand miles. Sometimes he had a horse, and 
sometimes he enjoyed comparatively easy prog- 
ress in a sleigh, but often he walked—four hun- 
dred miles on foot being the quarter’s record. 

During the next three months the distance 
travelled was more than a thousand miles, nearly 
one-fourth of it on foot. Snow was on the 
ground much of the time, usually in huge drifts. 

Here and there little churches were organized. 
Ministers were ‘brought from the East to take 
charge of these. Mr. Jackson felt responsible 
for their support. He kept track of their needs 
and arranged to supply them by means of mis- 
sionary boxes from Eastern churches, or by gifts 


j 


\ 


| 


36 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


from what he called his “ Raven Fund,” to which 
friends and churches in all parts of the country 
contributed on his invitation. Scores of churches 
and hundreds of families were assisted by means 
of this fund. One visit when assistance was 
given to a needy family has been pictured in 
this way: 

«Tt was a cold stormy ‘night; the missionary 
was looking for the quarterly check, long over- 
due, but was informed by letter that there was 
no money in the treasury of the Board; that 
missionaries must wait still longer for their pay. 
There was no coal in the bin, no supplies in the 
larder, the garments were thin and threadbare. 
The missionary reads the discouraging letter, 
looks at his wife and children, tears flow from 
their eyes—they all fall upon their knees and 
pray God for help. They arise with sad hearts. 
A cart is seen coming along the road, drawn by 
a pony; it stops at the gate; the pony is tied to 
the fence; a little man clad in furs makes his way 
to the humble dwelling of the missionary; a 
daughter looks through the window and cries 
out, ‘Oh, mamma, papa, it is—it is Sheldon 
Jackson! Things will be better now.’ - He en- 
ters the house—is received with tears of gladness. 
Soon afterwards the frugal meal is prepared and 
eaten; the story of their distress is heard. Mr. 
Jackson writes a brief letter to some wealthy 
church. A box of clothing and a generous 


ee ee ee eee ee 


a 2a 


aa 


i) ee ee 


Ten Years as a “ Beginner ”’ 37 


check are forwarded, and the family is happy 
and thank God and bless Mr. Jackson.” 

On the first page of the account book in which 
the missionary kept record of the gifts to this 
fund and the payments made, he wrote: “ With 
God all things are possible.” “ Ask and ye shall 
receive.’ He asked—and during ten years he 
received more than nineteen thousand dollars. 
Nearly half of this amount was given to min- 
isters, while the rest went to churches and mis- 
sion work. 

The diaries kept during these active years in 
Minnesota contain hundreds of hints about which 
might be written stories of intense interest. For 
instance : 


‘“*Rode horseback to Hokah. Got out of the 
path. Froze my face.”’ 


‘¢ My very joints last night ached with cold.”’ 


‘¢ Attempted to go across the bottoms. Lost 
our way and had a very tedious and cold ride of 
Lhe 


«Rode to Caledonia. Then started to walk 
home. Becoming tired sat down to wait a 
chance. Irishman came along and brought me 
to La Crescent for seventy-five cents.”’ 


‘‘ Found the going very bad. Sleigh broke 
down. Soon after we got off the track and 
wandered around among the hills in the dark- 
ness for four hours,” 


‘¢ Had the blues, Could have cried.” 


38 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


«Walked twenty-two miles. Air cool, wind 
at my back. Froze left arm, side of face and 
nose,”’ 


But there is absolutely no mention in these 
diaries of other hardships which most people 
would consider worthy of lengthy notice. Of 
some of these incidents we know because others 
have written of them. For instance, there was 
his adventure in crossing the Mississippi River 
at La Crosse, when the passage was dangerous 
because the water was filled with floating ice. 
The captain of the ferry-boat was willing to take 
him across, if he thought he must go, yet ad- 
vised against the trip. Mr. Jackson, knowing 
that his work called for his presence on the Min- 
nesota side, insisted on making the venture. All 
went well till the boat was far from shore. Then, 
for a time, the ice threatened to send the frail 
craft to the bottom. During the moments of 
danger Mr. Jackson showed much pluck and 
was so helpful that he found a warm place in the 
heart of the captain, who delighted to tell the in- 
cident in later years. 

The man who would not stop for an icy river 
or for a temperature of thirty degrees below 
zero was not to be conquered by minor difficul- 
ties. In 1864 he wished to build a church for 
the people at Rochester, Minnesota. The lumber 
for the new building was hard to find; lumber 
yards within reach were without stock because of 


66 ; 9 
Ten Years as a “ Beginner 39 


low water in the river. After diligent inquiry he 
learned that at Winona, fifty miles distant, there 
was a builder who had been compelled to inter- 
rupt work for which he had provided lumber. 
The man was approached, and agreed to sell the 
lumber for the church. The Winona and St. 
Peter railroad was then building, but had not. 
yet reached Rochester. Permission was secured 
to transport the lumber on construction trains to 
the end of the track. For several weeks the 
missionary travelled back and forth on the train 
that carried portions of his building material. 
Sometimes, when there was need, he acted as 
brakeman, and always, when the end of the road 
was reached, he superintended the loading or 
unloading of the cars. When the lumber was 
all at the railhead, it was loaded on wagons and 
taken the rest of the way to Rochester. 

Ten years of conquering difficulties like this 
made him long for still harder work. His eyes 
were on the country still further West, and he 
wanted to begin work there. Already he was 
known as “ The Beginner.” “ He will continue 
beginning to the end of the chapter,’ one said 
who knew of his work in Minnesota, “ and when 
earth shall cover his clay with other clay, let his 
epitaph be, ‘ Here at last rests The Beginner.’ ” 


V 
A PIONEER ON THE TRAIL 


Finding a large job—Dividing the field—An 
invitation to drink—An uncomfortable lodg- 
ing—On guard against the Indians—Fac- 
ing half a dozen revolvers—An explanation 
that might have been too late—An Indian 
Jight— Crossing a swollen stream—Remark- 
able endurance—Strapped to the top of a 
stageé-coach. 


HELDON JACKSON was always looking 
S foralarge job. He found what he wanted 

in 1869 when he was appointed “ Super- 
intendent of Missions for Western lowa, Ne- 
braska, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and 
Utah.” Colorado and New Mexico were added 
to his territory later. There were few churches 
in all this vast region, but churches would be 
needed for the millions who would begin pour- 
ing in as soon as the first transcontinental road 
was completed. 

When the Union Pacific railway was open he 
persuaded three men to divide among them the 
country along a thousand miles of track. Then 
he made his plans to do the work where travel 
was more difficult. 

49 


A Pioneer on the Trail 41 


In July, 1869, he started for South Pass, a 
mining town in Wyoming. It was an hour after 
midnight when he reached the end of his first 
day’s journey by stage. On asking for the hotel, 
he was told to walk up what was, by courtesy, 
called a street, and pass two tents which shel- 
tered saloons. Then he would come to a board 
house a story anda half high. The building he 
sought was found, and he entered the office, 
though he was somewhat amazed by the sight 
of a bar and billiard tables. 

The greeting of the keeper of the place was 
cordial: “Come, captain, and have a regular 
dodger to scrape the clam out of the roof of 
your mouth.” But the weary missionary, pre- 
ferring bed to a drink, asked for aroom. Ac- 
cordingly he was taken to a section of the loft 
which was called aroom. There was a partition 
' which would have been a good protection from 
outsiders, but there were large openings between 
the unplaned boards. There was a door, but 
there was no lock. There was a window for 
ventilation, but this ventilated too much—it was 
only a hole in the wall. There was a bed, but to 
his disgust Mr. Jackson found that it was occu- 
pied by innumerable vermin. He thought of 
sleeping in a chair, but there was no chair. He 
looked at the floor, wondering if this would not 
be preferable to the bed; but the floor was too 
dirty. At iast he decided to choose the less of 


42 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


two evils by lying on the bed, with overcoat 
collar turned up and a handkerchief about his 
neck as protection from insect marauders. But 
he did not sleep, and he was glad when the early 
dawn gave him an excuse for descending to the 
office. There he saw three men who had come 
in for a drink. The liquor seemed to affect them 
unpleasantly, for a few moments later they began 
a quarrel which ended only when one of them 
was stabbed to the heart. 

The stage-route from Bryan to South Pass led 
for about one hundred miles through a dreary 
waste of sand and sage-brush. The journey 
would have been monotonous, but for the danger 
of attack from Indians. Every ten or twelve 
miles there was a fort with a stockade through 
the gate of which the stage was driven until 
a change of the six horses could be made. 
Between stockades the passengers were warned 
to be on guard against surprise. Mr. Jackson 
was informed that he must help guard the stage, 
so for the entire distance he sat with a loaded 
rifle across his knees, or within reach. 

In this immense territory Mr. Jackson rode 
from north to south and from east to west, visit- 
ing the miners, the residents in the towns, the 
homesteaders on lonely ranches, the Indians in 
their cliffdwellings, and the Mexicans in their 
pueblos, Once, when on his way to Pueblo, 
he stationed himself about midnight at the 


HOV OO SHOVES dst UNO da ON 1D Ve V SON YLCEN E 


bd 


Zia. 


Fe ‘ 








A Pioneer on the Trail 43 


side of the road, and signalled the approach- 
ing stage to stop. Instantly half a dozen 
revolvers were thrust from the coach windows, 
and he was warned to throw up his hands or take 
the consequences. Hehadnochoice. The click 
of the hammers of the weapons that covered him 
at close range warned him that there was but the 
trembling of a finger between him and death. 
Only when he told his name and his errand were 
the menacing revolvers lowered. Then expla- 
nations were given, The stage-coach carried on 
that trip a sheriff and his posse, who were taking 
a noted desperado to the county seat for trial. 
While on the way the sheriff had received notice 
that the friends of the prisoner planned to hold 
up the stage at some point on the road in order 
to rescue him. For this reason six men with six 
revolvers waited tensely for a hail from the road- 
side. Dr. Jackson’s voice sounded out of the 
darkness—and the revolvers at once threatened 
him. 

When explanations had been made, the new 
passenger was received into the crowded stage, 
and the journey was resumed, 

Once he took a stage-coach journey from 
Corinne, Utah, to Helena, Montana. For four 
days and five nights the coach jolted over the 
rough road. At one point the route led through 
an encampment of one hundred lodges of Snake 
Indians. The passengers were taking supper at 


44 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


the station near by when they heard the cry, 
« Murder!” and rushed to the door to seea fight 
in progress. They were forbidden to interfere, 
at peril of their lives, and were compeiled to look 
on while one man was badly injured. 

Here a lumber wagon was substituted for the 
coach. When this had been loaded with the 
baggage and the mail and express packages, there 
was scant room for the nine passengers, but they 
had to make the best of the situation. To add 
to their troubles, a cold, drizzling rain began to 
fall. At midnight the wagon halted abruptly on 
the bank of a swollen stream. The bridge had 
been carried away that very day. As it was im- 
_ possible to ford the river, a log raft was built 
hastily, and the passengers, the baggage and the 
express parcels were ferried across, a few ata 
time. 

One of those who worked with Dr. Jackson at 
about this time said of him: “ His endurance in 
the days of his prime was phenomenal. I have 
known him to preach three times in one day, 
riding twenty-five miles on horseback between 
appointments, and rise next morning fresh and 
ready foranything. One evening he preached in 
Missoula and at the close of service he took the 
stage for a hundred miles, over a mountain road 
—a steady twenty-four hours’ run—to Deer 
Lodge, where he arrived barely in time for a 
service, which he had announced for that evening. 


A Pioneer on the Trail 45 


He persuaded the driver to take him directly to 
the church, and, leaping from the top of the coach 
to the church steps, entered it and went through 
the service without a moment for rest or refresh- 
ment of any kind.” 

No wonder the eaitor of a local paper said it 
was hard to keep track of him ; that it was worth 
a man’s life almost to keep in sight even of his 
coat-tails, as he glided around the mountains or 
plunged into deep ravines, or darted southward 
among a strange and wild people. 


VI 
‘«¢ THE BISHOP OF ALL OUTDOORS ” 


Scaling the summit—Mountain scenery—A 
log cabin camp—Zigzagging up an tce- 
field—Where a misstep meant death—A 
thousand-foot slide on the snow—Losing the 
traul— A pine-tree staircase—To town on 
burro back—In the path of the death-deal- 
ing avalanche—A forest fire—Utes on the 
war-path—Making a new trail—kiding a 
landslide. 


HE distances covered by Dr. Jackson 

in visiting his extensive parish once led 

a humorist to call him “ The Bishop of 

All Outdoors.” The title was a fitting descrip- 

tion of the man who seemed to thrive on hurried 
expeditions and dangerous situations. 

One of his most thrilling experiences was on 
his way to the organization of a church at Ouray, 
in company with Mr. Darley, a Colorado mis- 
sionary. 

The valley road was reported impassable, as 
the Uncompahgre River was too high to be 
forded. The only other way was to scale the 
summit of the mountains, twenty-nine miles on 
foot. This could be donein August, but was then 

46 


“ The Bishop of All Outdoors” 47 


considered impracticable on account of snow. 
Still there was a possibility of success and they 
concluded to try. Diligent inquiry was made 
without any encouragement. On that very day 
thirty miners and mountaineers, accustomed to 
trails, made the attempt, got lost in the snow and 
turned back, two of their number being led in 
snow-blind. The leading elder of the church 
urged Mr. Darley not to make the attempt, as it 
was not safe, but the travellers were set on going 
and they decided to push on. They started on 
Monday morning. 

Taking the stage to Capitol, they rode up the 
canon of Henson Creek for ten miles, between 
lofty rock-walls from one hundred to a thousand 
feet high. By noon they were at Capitol. After 
a good dinner they shouldered their blankets and 
provisions and started on foot up the cafion. All 
along were beautiful waterfalls and cascades a 
thousand feet high. Here and there they passed 
where the avalanche had cut a broad swath down 
the mountainside, carrying away the trees, both 
stump and limbs. Five miles up at the edge of 
the snow line they came to a new log-cabin. 
Here they camped for the night. They knew 
that if it should freeze hard during the night, so 
that the snow crust would bear them, they could 
get across, but not otherwise. 

About sundown the clouds began to gather 
and the snow to fall, and with it their hopes of 


48 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


crossing, But soon the clouds floated away and 
the sky was clear again. 

Their blankets were spread upon a pile of 
shingles and Dr. Jackson was soon sleeping 
soundly. Mr. Darley, who could not sleep, kept 
the fire burning and amused himself by throwing 
sticks at the chipmunks that played about the 
floor and ran over the beds. At two in the 
morning he woke his companion with the an- 
nouncement that breakfast was ready. After 
eating bacon, biscuit and coffee, by half-past 
three they were on their way to get over the 
crust before the morning sun should soften it. 

They floundered over the fallen timbers in the 
dark, and felt their way over logs across the 
streams or waded them. When boots and socks 
were thoroughly wet, they found a grim satisfac- 
tion in wading all subsequent streams rather than 
balance on an uncertain log. In an hour they 
were at timber line. Then they started zigzag — 
up the vast field of frozen snow and ice. The 
air grew rarer and rarer and breathing became 
more and more difficult. The wet boots froze, 
and the wet feet ached as if they were freezing 
too, Up and still up they went. Each step the 
heel of the boot would be driven firmly in the 
frozen snow, and each of them tried to step in 
the dent made by the one who preceded him. 
A misstep or slip would have sent the unlucky 
traveller whirling down the snow-face of the 


“ The Bishop of All Outdoors” 49 


mountain to be dashed in pieces on the rocks be- 
low. Every few steps, securing their heels in the 
snow, they would lie at full length exhausted, 
heart thumping, nose bleeding, eyes running, and 
ears ringing. Sometimes the blood was forced 
from both eyes and ears. 

Daylight was approaching, and still they were 
painfully climbing, until as the first rays of the 
morning sun were lighting up a hundred grand 
mountain peaks around, they gained the summit 
—thirteen thousand five hundred feet high. And 
from that summit what a panorama greeted their 
eyes! On one side was Mt. Sickels and on the 
other, Engineer’s Peak. Off to the north the 
great Uncompahgre Peak, fourteen thousand feet 
high, was head and shoulders above his fellows ; 
far away to the west in the dim blue distance was 
the Wasatch range of Utah; while as far as the 
eye could reach in every direction was a wilder- 
ness of peaks, all covered with snow. Nothing 
but snow was visible—a Canadian January scene 
in the middle of June. 

But it was too cold to tarry, and they were 
soon plunging down the western face of the 
mountain. Where it was not too steep, they 
could run down the face of the snow, and where 
it was too steep for running, they could sit down 
and slide. Such a slide of a thousand feet at a 
breakneck speed would be the great event of the 
season for the average schoolboy. Between 


50 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


running and sliding they were down in twenty 
minutes, a distance that on the other side had 
cost them two hours of painful climbing, and 
were at the first cabin on the head-waters of the 
Uncompahgre River. Without halting they 
plunged down the canon, as there was yet much 
snow to be crossed. The descent was rapid and 
the trail was bordered with a constant succession 
of waterfalls, any one of which would have re- 
paid a trip of hundreds of miles. Soon after 
reaching timber line the snow ran out, and they 
had a succession of dry ground and mud. Many 
mountain torrents had to be forded. Down they 
went until they reached Poughkeepsie Creek, 
which through a wild and almost inaccessible 
canon joins the Uncompahgre from the west. 
Here they lost the trail and got off into the 
fallen timber. By the time the trail was found 
Dr. Jackson’s feet were so blistered from travel- 
ling in wet and at times frozen boots that he 
could go no farther. They were in the heart of 
the mountains, still ten miles from town. It was 
decided that Mr. Darley should leave the provi- 
sions and blankets with Dr. Jackson, and then 
push on to Ouray and send back a horse to carry 
him in. Building a fire, and spreading the blan- 
kets, Dr. Jackson went to sleep with his feet dry- 
ing at the fire. Four hours passed and Mr. 
Darley returned without the horse. Shortly 
after leaving, he had again become lost, and, wan- 


“The Bishop of All Outdoors” 51 


dering around, found himself in the bottom of a 
deep canon, where the water of the mountain 
torrent filled from rockto rock, shutting off all 
further progress. To extricate himself from the 
gorge he had climbed great pine-trees, that, like 
stairs, enabled him to get from one ledge of rock 
to another. On his return he had met a miner 
going to Ouray, and being too much exhausted 
to walk in with him, had sent a note informing 
the people of the town of the situation of the 
missionaries. 

After a good rest in camp, a burro pack train 
came along and they hired their passage into 
Ouray. Mounting burros, without saddle or 
bridle, they started for town. The trail led up 
and down mountainsides so steep that, while go- 
ing up, they had great difficulty in keeping from 
sliding off behind, and while going down, they 
felt like bracing with their feet behind the ani- 
mals’ ears. Thus they went along the edge of 
precipices, where the giving way of a stone would 
have sent both animal and rider into the foaming 
river a thousand feet below. Just before reach- 
ing the village, they met a party with horses and 
provisions coming to their relief, and soon after 
they were safe among friends. 

Two days later Dr. Jackson started on another 
hard trip. Again his companion was a Mr. 
Darley, brother of the man who was with him 
before. 


52 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Getting up at three o’clock in the morning, 
they took the stage. They were whirled at a 
rapid rate up the picturesque valley of the Rio 
Grande through Wagon Wheel Gap, along the 
romantic mountain lake, San Miguel, until they 
were at the head springs of the Rio Grande upon 
the Continental Divide. From the divide the 
descent was rapid over a corduroy road down 
Slumgullion Pass to Lake City. 

Tuesday morning they started on horseback 
to cross the range to Silverton, thirty-five or 
forty miles distant. Turning up Henson Creek 
they rode through scenery indescribably wild and 
grand. At noon they came to Capitol for din- 
ner. Kesaddling their horses, they pressed for-_ 
ward as rapidly as the high elevation would 
permit. They were then higher than Mt. Wash- 
ington. 

On they went, until they were in the clouds 
—on to timber line and still on over great fields 
of jagged rock. It was a second Mt. Washing- - 
ton on top of the first. And still their horses 
were painfully and slowly toiling upwards. 

They passed a large field of perpetual snow 
and were on the summit of Engineer Pass, amid 
a vast wilderness of peaks over fourteen thousand 
feet high, that in their grand and awful desolation 
seemed like the chaos of ruined worlds. The vast- 
ness of their surroundings was oppressive. No 
living thing was seen but the little conies that 


“ The Bishop of All Outdoors” 52 


~@) 


barked among the rocks ; they seemed to be the 
sole occupants of illimitable space. They gave 
but a few minutes to the sublime scene, as there 
was a hard ride still before them and the after- 
noon was wearing away. Retightening the girths 
to their saddies, they commenced the steep zig- 
zag descent. Down, and down and down, until 
there seemed no bottom. Down to where Ani- 
mas Forks Mining Camp was perched at timber 
line. Down over the paths of the avalanche 
that every winter claimed its victims. This was 
spoken of as the United States Post Mail Route 
to Death, for not a single season had passed since 
its establishment but one or more mail-carriers 
with the mail lashed to their backs had started 
out never to return alive; they were overtaken 
and swept into eternity by the swift, terrible 
snow-slide. 

Down they went to Eureka, whose one long 
street was lined on either side by deserted log 
houses. Down past mines innumerable, where 
men delved for gold and silver amid great priva- 
tions; where large numbers sacrificed early re- 
ligious training, integrity and manhood, and, © 
wrecked in fortunes and character, found prema- 
ture graves. They swarmed and burrowed in 
these mountains by the thousands. 

Night was upon them. Still they galloped on 
and down. Late in the evening they reached 
the hotel at Silverton, so tired and sore and raw 


54 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


that it was with great pain and difficulty they 
were able to undress and get to bed. Early the 
next morning they were again in the saddle, for 
they must make fifty miles. 

The next day, after calling on nearly all the 
families of the congregation in the village, they 
were again in the saddle on their return trip. 
Night found them enjoying roadside hospitality. 

At ten o'clock the next morning they were 
once more on the road. The forests were on fire 
in every direction. They had been set on fire by 
small bands of Utes who—two miles west—were | 
destroying the fences and hay of a frontier settler. 
The Utes were on the war-path and small bands 
were in the woods on either side. Even then 
couriers were flying through the country, warn- 
ing exposed settlers of their danger. Not meet- 
ing any of them, the travellers rode on uncon- 
scious of their danger, and it was not until they 
reached their stopping-place for the night that 
they heard of the outbreak. They rode fifty-two 
miles that day. 

The next morning Mr. Darley returned home, 
while Dr. Jackson continued on the trail to Ouray. 
There everything was in a high state of excite- 
ment. The farmers outside of the village were 
hurriedly bringing their families in for protection. 
Two companies of militia had been organized, 
guns and ammunition had been distributed, a 
rude barricade and earthworks were being hastily 


“The Bishop of All Outdoors” 55 


thrown up, pickets were ‘stationed outside and 
all kinds of rumours were flying from mouth to 
mouth. 

All the families of the congregation were 

visited, and on Sunday good audiences were at 
church, considering the excited condition of the 
community. Sunday night the fitful gusts of 
wind, accompanied with a driving rain, gave 
warning of the coming storm, and Dr. Jackson 
was anxious lest the mountain passes should be 
blocked with snow. 
_’ Rising as soon as it was light, he took a glance 
at the range, and saw it white with fresh snow. 
Getting an early breakfast he started out to cross 
the range. A few miles out an unexpected 
difficulty presented itself. The forests had been 
on fire and in some places the timbers that sup- 
ported the trail had been burnt out. Thestorm 
of the preceding night had also blown a good 
many trees across the track, some of them too 
large either to remove or get over. The only 
thing he could do was to throw off his wrappings 
and with his hands make a new trail around the 
obstructions. This consumed nearly all the fore- 
noon. At one place, having forced his horse up 
the mountainside on some loose rocks, he started 
a landslide. The rocks slipped out from under 
the horse’s feet, and the animal quietly lay down 
on his side and went down with the slide. 

Soon the rain gave placeto snow. Dr. Jackson 


56 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


passed through the snow-cloud at an elevation of 
thirteen thousand feet, and was above it and saw 
the snow-storm raging below him, while all 
around the great peaks were glistening in the 
sunshine. As the wind that swept across the 
summit was too cold to permit much tarrying, he 
hastened down the eastern side, and by dusk was 
safely housed at the parsonage at Lake City. : 
From there a day and a night of staging and 
fourteen hours on the railroad brought him to 
his family in Denver, 


Vil 
IN THE LAND OF MONTEZUMA 


In the Taos pueblo—A strange dwelling— 
The sacred fire—The tradition of Montezuma 
—A strange recepltion— Cleaning the church 
—Primitive customs—Diffiicult staging—An 
interrupted sleep—Off the tratl—When 
water was scarce—A sand-storm in the 
desert—Why Dr. Jackson was able to en- 
dure hardship. 


HEN Sheldon Jackson was a boy he 

A read with eagerness the wonderful 

story of the strange civilization found 
in Mexico by the Spanish explorers of the six- 
teenth century. And when duty called him to 
the mountains and canons of New Mexico, he 
was delighted to find there many dwellers in the 
pueblos who claimed to be descendants of the 
Aztecs. 

While the people are called Indians by the 
government, they are as distinct from the Indians 
as a Frenchman is distinct from a native of 
Sweden. 

In the course of his missionary journeys Dr. 
Jackson learned of nineteen pueblos or villages. 
After a visit to the Taos puebio he wrote a letter 


57 


53 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


to young people in the East in which he de- 
scribed what he saw and heard: 

« Each pueblo is a kingdom within itself. The 
chief officer is the Cacique, and his office is 
hereditary. The chief men or members of the 
council are nominated by the Cacique, and are 
voted for by the people. They hold office for 
one year. 

“The people of each pueblo have a language 
of their own, but they use the Spanish in their 
intercourse with the outside world. They dwell 
in huge adobe buildings, five or six stories high, 
each story being smaller than the one beneath it, 
thus forming a series of terraces. There are no 
doors to the first or ground story, entrance being 
gained by ladders to the top of the terrace, then 
through a trap-door in the roof, and down an- 
other ladder into the room beneath. In times of 
danger, the outside ladder is pulled up upon the 
flat roof, and the building is turned into a fortress. 

«“ The sixth story is used as a mill, where the 
women grind their grain between two stones, 
with a motion similar to rubbing clothes upona 
washboard, and they certainly know how to make 
good bread. That which was offered to us was 
excellent. Each family has its suite of rooms, 
and those we visited were snug and clean, the 
walls being neatly whitewashed. Upon the ar- 
rival of the Spaniards, these Indians were nomi- 
nally converted to Roman Catholicism. While 


AMONG 





THE bw BLOm: 





In the Land of Montezuma 59 


they have a Romish church in each pueblo, and 
attend mass, they also have their Estufas, in 
which they keep burning the sacred fire, and 
worship the sun, 

“ The Estufas are underground rooms, in shape 
like an inverted bowl. The one into which we 
went was about twenty feet in diameter at the 
bottom. The only opening is the trap-door en- 
trance at the top. In the centre of this room 
was a depression in the dirt floor of about two 
feet square, filled with ashes from the sacred fre. 
Upon the eastern edge of this hearth was a rude 
altar, upon which, according to tradition and 
Mexican belief, they still sometimes sacrifice 
children. 

«“ Eight or ten boys are annually set apart to 
keep the sacred fire burning, for they cherish the 
tradition that Montezuma, who established this 
Taos village, taught them to build pueblos, and 
kindled their sacred fires; also that he planted a 
tree, predicting that after his disappearance there 
would be no rain, and that a foreign race would 
subjugate them. But he commanded them to 
keep the fires burning until the fall of the tree, 
when white men from the East would overwhelm 
their oppressors, rain would again increase, and 
he would soon reéstablish his kingdom. They 
say that the tree fell just as the triumphant Amer- 
icans entered Santa Fe in 1846. 

«And now they await his coming. Each 


60 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


morning, it is said, one-appointed for the purpose 
ascends to the housetop at sunrise, to see if 
Montezuma is not coming to restore their king- 
dom.” , 

In March, 1876, after three days’ hard travel- 
ling—the last day being over fifty miles of bar- 
ren land, without a drop of water—Dr. Jackson 
came to Laguna pueblo with a missionary whom 
he wished to leave among the people. 

The visitors reached the village on Saturday 
evening. On Sunday morning the native lieu- 
tenant-governor of the pueblo appeared, with 
his attendants, to confer with them about their 
mission, Others came to satisfy their curiosity. 
The lieutenant-governor was dressed in a high © 
silk hat, calico shirt, and cloth pants tucked into 
cavalry boots. The hat and boots were used 
only on state occasions. Then came John Peter, 
clothed in a calico shirt, short blouse, pants ex- 
tending just below the knee, with buckskin leg- 
gins and moccasins, and a_ woollen blanket 
wrapped in a great roll around his waist. A 
third had on a fancy woollen shirt, blouse, pants 
and leggins, a heavy string of red beads around 
the neck and across the chest, large silver ear- 
rings, and silver ornamented bright scarlet sash 
around the head, fastening the long black hair 
away from the eyes. Then came a little girl four 
years old, clothed in a calico dress, striped woollen 
socks, copper-toed shoes, highland cap, and a 


In the Land of Montezuma 61 


small plaid shawl. All the other children were 
dressed in native costume. The women were 
dressed in short navy blue woollen shirts, made of 
native cloth, buckskin leggins and moccasins. 
Their ears and arms were profusely ornamented 
with silver rings and bracelets. Many of the 
women and children, and some of the men, had 
a broad band of bright red paint extending across 
the face from ear to ear. 

Later in the day the governor arrived. He 
was a large, fleshy man, beyond middle age, and 
was dressed in a clean white muslin shirt, black 
velvet pants or knee-breeches, leggins and moc- 
casins. He had a red sash around his head, 
large silver rings in his ears, six silver bracelets 
and one of copper on his right wrist, and about 
thirty silver buttons down the outside seams of 
his pants and leggins. 

About two o'clock Sunday afternoon the little 
bell over the schoolhouse was rung several times, 
and the Indians—who had been called in from 
all the country round—poured in until the room 
was full; those who were unable to obtain seats 
either sat upon the dirt floor or stood around the 
doors and windows. Just after the last bell two 
bunches of corn-husks were brought in and laid 
upon the pulpit. In these tobacco was enclosed, 
that the territorial officers, the chief men of the 
pueblo and others might smoke. 

After two addresses by the missionaries. which 


62 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


were translated to the people by two interpreters, 
it was decided to haveachurch. “It isall good; 
very good,” they agreed. Next day a site was 
set apart for the church building, and arrange- 
ments were made for the work. Then Dr. Jack- 
son went on his way to another pueblo. 

Some time later he was in the village once 
more. Learning of his coming, the people 
planned to have the church building in good con- 
dition for his inspection. He found them as- 
sembled to whitewash and clean the church and 
schoolroom. The whitewashing was done with 
white clay daubed on and smoothed with the 
hands. Fifteen or twenty women or girls, of all 
ages, were on their knees around a mortar bed 
grinding the clay between two stones. Other 
women and girls were bringing water in their 
ollas (earthen water jars) on their heads. Men 
with hoes were mixing the mortar or wash and 
carrying it to the women, who were putting it 
inside and out, while many little boys and girls 
stood around, taking care of the babies. It was 
a strange scene for the United States. 

As he journeyed among these strange people 
Dr. Jackson noted many customs of Asia that 
had been brought, perhaps, by the Moors to 
Spain, and from Spain to Mexico. Inthespring, 
instead of seeing fine steel plows, he found the 
people plowing with a crooked stick, the yoke 
being tied across the horns of the oxen. Later 


In the Land of Montezuma 63 


in the year he saw the people gathering and 
threshing their grain, for it was the season of 
harvest. But such harvesting! The grain that 
had been raised in ground plowed with a crooked 
stick was being reaped with a sickle, and their 
hay was being cut with a hoe, literally cut off at 
the roots. As in the days of Ruth and Boaz, 
men and women were still reaping with the sickle 
and some were gleaning. Others were treading 
out grain with sheep, and still others were en- 
gaged in winnowing it. After cleaning out the 
bulk of the straw with forks, the wheat and chaff 
were shovelled into woollen blankets, which, by 
a series of jerks—similar to those used in shaking 
carpets—tossed their contents into the air. The 
chaff blowing away, the wheat fell back upon the 
blankets. As this process required a favourable 
wind, the people would often work all night. A 
still further process was to lift the wheat in a 
bucket as high as the head and empty it slowly 
upon a blanket spread upon the ground. When 
separated from the chaff the wheat was taken to 
the neighbouring stream by the women and 
washed in large earthen jars, and then was spread 
upon woollen blankets in the sun to dry. 

From peaceful scenes like these the missionary 
soon passed to the roughest kind of travel. On 
one of his memorable journeys through the heart 
of New Mexico his life was endangered when a 
wild and vicious horse was put on the lead of the 


64 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


coachteam. Hewasunmanageable. Dr. Jackson 
found difficulty in keeping his seat. Once, when 
the coach was brought to a sudden stop by the 
tangling of the team, he was thrown with great 
force across the coach, but fortunately escaped 
with a few bruises. The team was straightened 
out, and the stage was off again, now in the road, 
again circling on the unbroken plains, or across 
gulches and over mounds. The coach swayed 
and bounded from side to side. After tangling 
up the team again and again, the vicious horse 
was finally placed on the wheel and dragged 
along by the other three except when he at- 
tempted to run; then the whip would be applied 
and good time made. When the coach arrived 
at the next station the team was flecked with 
foam and blood. 

That night, fortunately, Dr. Jackson was the 
only passenger, so he placed some hay in the bot- 
tom of the coach, spread his blanket on this, and 
lay down to rest. But he found it difficult to 
sleep, for a sudden lurch of the coach would jam 
his head against the end of the coach, or a jolt 
would toss him up, and he would come down 
with a thud. When he did succeed in dropping 
asleep his cramped position brought on night- 
mare. 

During the night the rain descended in tor. 
rents. The lamps went out and matches failed. 
He was awakened by an angry discussion be- 


In the Land of Montezuma 65 


tween the driver and the conductor, whether they 
should venture to go on in the pitchy darkness, 
or stop in the road until daylight. They finally 
concluded to drive on and run the chance of be- 
ing thrown over the bank of some washout. 

Contrary to expectations there was no disaster, 
and at dawn the coach halted on the bank of a 
raging torrent, filled with driftwood from the 
mountains. Numbers of Mexicans were camped 
on either side—waiting for the flood to subside. 
Unharnessing one of the wheel horses, the con- 
ductor rode through to ascertain whether the coach 
could cross. He decided to make the attempt. 
The ride that day was across a succession of wild 
and rough mountain ranges. At night, wearied 
by the long strain of thirty-six hours’ hard travel- 
ling, Dr. Jackson rolled up in his blanket and 
went to sleep, to be suddenly roused by a crash, 
followed by a volley of oaths. In the darkness 
there had been a collision with the up coach in a 
narrow ravine. Lamps were smashed and wheels 
and whiffletrees were securely interlocked. 

A later missionary pilgrimage was made on 
horseback, in the company of a native Christian. 
In the valley of San Ysidro they came unexpect- 
edly to the ruins of an ancient pueblo. The 
walls were level with the ground, and they would 
have passed them unnoticed but for the great 
quantities of broken pottery. Rounding the 
corner of a mesa they were soon on the wrong 


66 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


trail. After riding two or three hours, they 
found themselves hedged in on every side by the 
perpendicular walls of a canon. After carefully 
searching the side cafons they found an old trail 
leading up the almost inaccessible rocks. Up 
this with great difficulty they forced their horses. 

As they were off the trail, nothing was left for 
them but to steer across the country, with certain 
well-known mountain peaks as landmarks. Ina 
country like New Mexico, where the table-lands 
are cut up in every direction by canons, crowned 
with perpendicular rocks, this was no easy mat- 
ter. From an elevation the country looks like 
an undulating plain, over which there should be 
no difficulty in passing. Perhaps in an hour the — 
traveller comes to a great crack in the earth, two 
hundred or three hundred feet deep, and a quar, 
ter of a mile across. In such an event the only 
thing possible is to find a trail down through a 
fissure of the perpendicular rocks, or make a dé- 
tour of miles around the head of the cafion, 
Upon one occasion Dr. Jackson and his compan- 
ion found a narrow fissure, down which—by re- 
moving the saddles—they could force the ani- 
mals, though the rocks scraped the hair on both 
sides. 

There was a beautiful full moon, so they rode on 
into the night. At length they reached a clump 
of juniper trees. There the horses were unsad- 
dled and turned out, blankets were spread on the 


In the Land of Montezuma 67 


ground, and Dr. Jackson went supperless to bed. 
His Mexican friend sat out most of the night by 
the camp-fire, as he found it too cold to sleep. 
At the first appearance of dawn Dr. Jackson was 
called to breakfast, which consisted of lamb 
roasted on a stick, bread and coffee. The dishes 
were a coffee-pot, three tin cups, and three 
pocket-knives. Breakfast over, they were again 
on their way. A few miles brought them to the 
Puerco River, which—though usually destitute 
of water—had been sweeping away houses and 
crops. A few days later they could not have 
crossed. As it was, Dr. Jackson was carried 
across on the shoulders of aMexican. Then the 
saddles, blankets and provisions were carried 
over, after which the horses were compelled to 
plunge in and get across as best they could. 
Two of them crossed safely, but the third went 
down in the quicksand, and was extricated with 
great difficulty. 

During his New Mexico pilgrimages Dr. Jack- 
son found more difficulty from drought than 
from flood. Sometimes he went for an entire 
day without water. It was a common thing to 
strap kegs of water under the stage, in order that 
the animals and the passengers might have enough 
to drink until the next water hole was reached. 
Once he stated in his diary the fact that, in re- 
sponse to a friendly warning, he had filled his 
canteen and water bags before starting out ona 


68 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


trying trip, only to find that it was forty-one 
hours’ journey to the next spring. 

More trying still—if that is possible—was the 
desert sand-storm. Fortunately, such storms were 
not of frequent occurrence. Perhaps the worst 
experience was in April, 1877. At first it was 
possible to make progress against the whirling 
sand, but the wind increased, and the air was 
filled with stinging, suffocating particles. At 
midday Dr. Jackson and his companions were 
compelled to camp. After turning out the team, 
they rolled up in buffalo skins on the ground, 
covered up their heads, and went tosleep. Sand 
drifted over them as they lay. 

At about sundown, the violence of the storm 
having abated, the travellers rose, kindled a fire, 
and made preparation for dinner. When it was 
discovered that the water supply was low, the re- 
maining pints were carefully measured out, that 
each might have his own share. Still thirsty the 
men lay down to sleep once more in a shelter of 
cedar boughs. Next morning it was necessary 
to travel ten miles before breakfast could be pre- 
pared, as there was no more water. 

“IT don’t see how you can stand it!” friends 
said to Dr. Jackson when they learned of some 
of these experiences. But he thought nothing of 
little inconveniences like these, because his mind 
was ever taken up with the needs of the people 
to whom he longed to tell of Christ. 


VII 
PERILS AMONG THE INDIANS 


Seeking Indian children—Dnufficulty on diffi- 
culty— Shivering around a red-hot stove— 
Unpleasant travelling companions—Losit in 
the desert—forty miles on a flat car—Typ- 
wcal Indian pupils—Apaches on the war-path. 
—A disgruntled chie/—Threatening Mex- 
wcans—Drunken guards—Rescued from a 
guicksand—In a darkened railway car— 
Safe at last. 


NE of the duties Dr. Jackson took on 

() himself was the gathering of Indian 

children in New Mexico for the govern- 

ment schools at Carlisle and Hampton. This 

service was performed at cost of great exertion 

and risk in connection with his regular missionary 
journeys. 

In 1881 one of these expeditions was com- 
pleted only after many trying experiences. The 
start was made from the Indian school at Albu- 
querque, New Mexico. The omnibus was ordered 
to come at seven o'clock in the evening to take 
the party to the depot. Promptly the trunk was 
strapped, and Dr. and Mrs. Jackson sat with 
wrappingson. The clock struck nine, ten, eleven, 

69 


70 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


and no omnibus. The next evening the omnibus 
was on time, and they reached the depot to learn 
that the train was eight hours late. The waiting- 
room being filled with smoking and swearing 
men, they secured a furnished bedroom in the 
loft or garret of a shanty over a saloon. Before 
daybreak they were aroused for the train, and 
were soon under way southward. At eight 
o’clock they reached San Marcial, the end of the 
passenger line. The construction train, upon 
which they expected to continue their journey, 
had been gone an hour, and there would be no 
other train until the next morning. San Marcial 
was then a village of fifty tents and shanties, and 
the principal occupation of its citizens was gam- 
bling and selling whiskey to the labourers engaged 
in constructing the railway. ‘The progress of the 
road having removed the labourers, the saloon- 
keepers and gamblers were pulling down their 
tents preparatory to moving to “ the front.” 
The thermometer was near zero, and it was 
impossible to keep warm. At the breakfast table 
victuals, brought on smoking hot, were cold 
before they reached the mouth. All day long, 
the travellers shivered arounda red-hot stove. At 
night they went to bed in a shanty about eight 
by six feet in size, having again and again 
charged the landlord to call them in time for 
breakfast. The severe cold stopped the hotel 
clock, the landlord overslept, and they were 


Perils Among the Indians 71 


aroused with the warning to hurry or they would 
lose the train. 

Without breakfast, they shivered and stumbled 
along in the dark for a quarter of a mile to 
find that the only accommodation was an emi- 
grant car, attached to a freight train. The car 
was already crowded with saloon men and gam- 
blers. Many of them also had missed their 
breakfast. The fire would not burn, the car was 
unlighted and cold, and the general discomfort of 
the rough men found expression in increased 
drinking, smoking and profanity, The cheerless 
hours dragged slowly from seven to one o'clock 
in the afternoon, when the train stopped upon 
the boundless, waterless, treeless plain of the 
Jorna del Muerto (journey of death), a four-horse 
coach came along, and the travellers were trans- 
ferred from the cars to the stage-coach. 

Soon they came to a small, dilapidated, dirty 
and villainous looking adobe building where they 
were to eat their New Year’s dinner. The canvas 
hotel left in the morning was to be pulled down 
during the day and taken to “ the front,’ and the 
adobe where they dined was to be abandoned 
after dinner. Supper would be served at the end 
of the track some miles away. 

On Monday morning they hired a hack to take 
them across the country to the end of the track 
of the Southern Pacific Railroad, supposed to be 
twenty miles distant. A Mexican on horseback 


72 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


piloted them through the floating ice and 
treacherous quicksands of the Rio Grande River. 
Leaving the river bottoms and ascending the 
bluffs they were soon on the broad rolling table- 
lands of the interior. As the end of the track was 
advancing day by day to the southeast, a new road 
became necessary every few days, consequently 
the driver soon left all roads and struck out boldly 
across the plain with a distant mountain peak for 
a landmark. The wagon dragged heavily in the 
sand and through the weeds until, by noon, the 
team of mules were so tired out that no amount 
of cruel beating would force them along. Noth- 
ing was left but to unharness, turn out the mules 
and go into camp. They were in the desert and 
lost. Again and again the driver had climbed to 
the top of the wagon and anxiously scanned the 
horizon for some familiar object. The silence 
was oppressive ; no living thing, not even a bird 
was to be seen. It was the land of the hostile, 
lurking, murderous Apache. Danger was not 
anticipated, as Chief Victoria had been so recently 
killed, and the power of his band was supposed 
to be broken. It was a false security, however, 
as the next week the Apaches captured the stage, 
killed and mutilated the driver and passengers, 
and during the next two weeks massacred from 
twenty-five to thirty persons. 

After giving the mules a rest, they started, and 
about the middle of the afternoon were rejoiced 


Perils Among the Indians 733 


to see in the distance the smoke of a railway 
engine. By sundown they reached the construc- 
tion train as it was preparing to leave. If they 
had been ten minutes later they would have been 
alone on the plain, without sufficient blankets 
to camp out over night. The engineer furnished 
Mrs. Jackson a seat in the engine, while Dr. 
Jackson, rolled up in a blanket, took his seat on 
a flat car from which steel rails had just been un- 
loaded. Forty miles brought them to Deming, 
where they expected to take the passenger train. 
They were again disappointed, for the passenger 
train had been gone six hours, Unable to pro- 
cure a sleeping place in the tent or car (there 
were no houses) they took the emigrant car 
attached to the freight, and—dinnerless and 
supperless—-were soon on their way. At mid- 
night they changed to another car in which they 
continued until their arrival at Tucson, Arizona, 
at four o’clock the next afternoon, again too late 
for connections westward. 3 

After arranging then for the specified number 
of Indian children Dr. and Mrs. Jackson took the 
stage-coach at Wilcox Station for the San Carlos 
Apache Indian Agency, one hundred and twenty 
miles distant. Returning from the agency they 
found the roughest and most dangerous stage ride 
on the wholetrip. The ride was over the boulders 
in the bottom of a rocky canon, and down hills 
so steep that passengers were warned to get out. 


74 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Then the wheels were chained, and the horses 
put to a gallop to prevent the coach running over 
them. 

At Pima Agency Dr. Jackson gathered twenty- 
six children from various tribes. First came 
Hor-tum-ia-two-i-him (Evening Thunder), son 
and heir of the head chief of the Pima Nation. 
He was a man thirty years of age, and left wife 
and children that he might learn the ways of the 
white man and become a wiser ruler. He took 
with him one of his children, Mo-ha-ti-cal-pa-ha 
(Brown Eagle), a bright boy of nine years. Then 
Charlie and Kistoe climbed up into the wagon 
and separated themselves from their people, while 
the old grandmother of Kistoe, half clothed and 
dirty, sat on the ground swaying to and fro, and 
uttering heartrending wails, for she did not ex- 
pect to live to see him again. Then came Mi- 
li-ah Inness, the only girl in the party. But the 
number is not yet full. Sa-var-pks was missing. 
Had his courage failed? Others had thus 
dropped out of the list. Fearing it might be the 
case, Dr. Jackson selected a boy from the crowd 
and made overtures to his parents to allow him 
to go. But the mother, seated on the ground, 
with her face buried in her hands, was deaf to all 
arguments. She answered nota word. Suddenly 
a dust was seen in the distance, then three runners, 
and soon Sa-var-pks came up panting. He had 
been off on a last errand for his parents. 


Perils Among the Indians 75 


Having now the full number allowed by the 
government from that agency, Dr. Jackson soon 
resumed his journey. ‘Taking the cars at Casa 
Grande, Tucson was reached about bedtime. 

The next morning, while preparing to go to 
the Papago villages for a few children, he was 
officially informed that the chiefs and head men 
had held a council and decided that they would 
not allow any of their children to go East. This, 
however, did not deter him from going after 
them. Loading the Pima children into a hack, 
he drove south nine miles to their villages. The 
agent sent for Juan, the head chief of the Papa- 
goes. Dr. Jackson showed him the Pima chil- 
dren who were going, told him the advantages 
that would come to his people, and asked him 
for some children. There was a running to and 
fro, private and public consultations, and in two 
hours there were added to the number two boys, 
Santiago and Pablo, and one girl, Francisca. 

Dr. Jackson had planned to leave Tucson on 
the midnight train, but the telegraph brought 
news that a band of the Apaches were again on 
the war-path—that they had captured the stage- 
coach, destroyed the express and mail matter, 
and killed and mutilated the driver and pas- 
sengers. As the marauding Indians were di- 
rectly in the path, the party remained over a 
day to telegraph for a military escort. The de- 
lay enabled the Papagoes to change their minds 


76 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


and reclaim their children. Early the first morn 
ing Chief Juan appeared with one of his leading 
men and asked for Francisca. It seems that the 
night before they held a council, and the idea 
had been expressed that the children had been 
bewitched and were being carried off prisoners. 
Upon the arrival of the chief, the children com- 
menced crying for fear they would not be allowed 
to proceed. The frightened girl was called and 
closely questioned, and when she declared that _ 
she wanted to go, Dr. Jackson was asked to 
draw up a paper, which the chief carried back 
to his people, certifying that she went willingly. 
All day long individuals of the tribe were 
hanging around trying to entice the children © 
away. 

Unable to hear anything from the soldiers, Dr. 
Jackson concluded to go on, and in the after- 
noon went aboard a special car. When evening 
came he had the car locked up, and so prevented 
intrusion from outside Indians. At midnight the 
car was attached to the regtlar train. As the 
conductor opened the door, three half drunken 
Indians pushed in. They were angry and bois- 
terous, but soft words calmed them down, and 
the heated air of the car and the liquor so stupe- 
fied them that they finally fell asleep on the floor 
near the stove. They rode until daylight and 
then left the car. 

At Wilcox Station waited an agent with seven 








Poel LER eAND CANOESIN THE ARGTIC-OGEAN; 


A week’s canoe voyage along the stormy coast of Alaska. 
Ice-bound in the Arctic Ocean on the U.S. R. Cutter Bear. 





Perils Among the Indians 77 


boys from the Apache, Mojave and Yuma Bands 
at the San Carlos Agency. Two of these boys, 
Firy and A-co-le-hut, eighteen and seventeen 
years of age, had been for two years scouts in 
the United States military service, and could 
make sixty miles a day on foot. But they were 
ready to exchange the camp for the school. 
Then came A-qua-ca, A-moy-ham-ma, Hi- 
poy-ya, Sta-go and Tel-ma. All but the last 
were orphans, both fathers and mothers having 
been killed in the many wars waged by this once 
turbulent tribe. 

That evening when Deming was reached it 
was found that, on account of the Indian raids, 
the stage-coaches were not running, freighters 
were laid up, and all travel had ceased. Dr. 
Jackson learned that teams were awaiting the 
party at the end of the track some sixty miles 
distant, so the car was attached to the construc- 
tion train. Midnight brought them to the end 
of the track, where were the teams. There were 
two other parties waiting for company. 

By daybreak they were all on their way—three 
wagon loads and three mounted and armed horse- 
men. Small bands of hostile Indians were all 
around them, but there were none in sight. 
Two days previous three herders and two miners 
had been killed at Chloride Gulch. On the day 
previous two men were killed on the Upper 
Chrichillis, and at the same time Dr, Jackson 


78 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


was on the road, a man, his wife, child, and 
mother-in-law were massacred not far away. 
On the following day five men were killed west 
of San Marcial, and a few days later the buck- 
board stage was captured and the driver killed. 
While one danger was left behind, another 
was encountered—the excited Mexicans who 
were breathing out threatenings and slaughter 
against all Indians. The Las Cruces paper of 
the day before had announced that Dr. Jackson 
would arrive with sixteen children ; that, Victoria 
being dead, the government was training up 
sixteen more Victorias to be more savage than 
their fathers. The feeling was running so high 
that some friends had thought of telegraphing 
the missionary not to drive through the villages, 
but to pass around them. 
Hundreds gathered upon the streets to gaze 
at the Indians and their guardians, but there was 
no hostile demonstration. At sundown Dona 
Ana, a small Mexican village, was reached. The 
whole valley was full of railway graders, and six 
new saloons had been started in the village 
to accommodate them. Drinking and rioting 
were going on, but the party could go no farther. 
One of the leading Mexicans rented Dr. Jacksona 
small room in which Mrs. Jackson, the two girls 
and the smaller boys found shelter. Ithadacot, 
table, two chairs, bench, fireplace and dirt floor. 
The larger boys built a camp-fire near the wagons 


Perils Among the Indians 79 


on the outside. The army experience of Firy 
had made him familiar with guard duties, and 
the camp was put in his charge. Guards were 
placed in the wagons to prevent pilfering by the 
Mexicans who crowded around. About nine 
o'clock it was found that the captain of the guard 
and two other Indian boys had been furnished 
with whiskey and were drunk, and that drunken 
Mexicans were gathering in from the saloons 
ready for a war of races. Firy was at once de- 
posed, and, with the other drunken boys, lifted 
into a wagon and kept under a guard. Some of 
the better class of Mexicans were called in to get 
the drunken ones away. The Pima and Papago 
boys, afraid to remain with the drunken Apaches 
(for a feud of centuries had existed between these 
people), were allowed to sleep on the blankets on 
the ground inside of the yard. A-co-le-hut was 
made captain of the guard, and order was re- 
stored. It was a long night of great anxiety, 
for the least hostile demonstration on the part of 
the drunken Indian boys would have raised a 
mob that would have destroyed the party. 

By daybreak all were again on the road, riding 
until ten, when they went into camp for break- 
fast, the first meal they had had since noon of the 
day before. About five in the afternoon they 
reached the new railway village of Colorow to 
find that the train, which they had been assured 
did not leave until evening, had been gone four 


So The Alaskan Pathfinder 


hours. The village was made up largely of gam- 
blers and saloon-keepers. Dr. Jackson could not 
learn of a hotel, boarding-house, tent, or even 
enclosed yard, into which he could place the 
children. “To camp out in the street would be to 
subject them to many annoyances and some 
danger. In the few minutes spent in making 
inquiries a hundred rough men had gathered 
around the wagon containing the children, In 
this moment of perplexity, a lieutenant of the 
United States army rode up and invited the 
company to his camp across the Rio Grande. 
The lieutenant and his orderly led the way to 
the crossing. The four-mule team with the 
children drove into the river and Dr. and Mrs. 
Jackson followed closely with the ambulance. 
Reaching the deep water, the jaded horses 
stopped, and wagons and teams began sinking in 
the quicksands. In a moment all was confusion. 
The larger Indian boys, comprehending the situa- 
tion, sprang into the stream. Wading back to 
the ambulance, they carried on their shoulders 
safely to shore Dr. and Mrs. Jackson, and the 
Indian girls. The mounted soldier carried some 
of the smaller boys ashore on his horse. One 
little fellow, reaching out to the horse, and in his 
fear clinging to the wagon, fell into the stream — 
and was fished out below. At length all got to — 
land. The whip was applied to the teams, the 
empty wagons were pulled through, camp was 


Perils Among the Indians 31 


reached, and the children were soon drying 
themselves by a blazing fire. 

The following day the construction train was 
taken for San Marcial. The whole village was 
panic stricken with fear of the Indians, as on the 
two previous days nine persons had been mur- 
dered a few miles distant. That very afternoon 
the mutilated bodies of four had been brought to 
the Mexican village a short distance away, where 
an infuriated mob of between two and three hun- 
dred were assembled to view the remains of their 
friends. Their loud wails of grief were mingled 
with mad cries of vengeance upon the Indians. 
Had the presence of these sixteen unarmed 
Indian children been known to them, the mob 
would have torn them limb from limb, for an 
Indian cannot be more cruel than an infuriated 
Mexican. 

On arriving at the depot, the party left their 
seats until the train could be emptied and backed 
down to the yard. Ominous warnings were 
given by the railroad men that if the Mexicans 
found out the Indians were there their lives 
would be worthless. Once in the yard, they 
were quietly and quickly transferred to a spe- 
cial car. The shades were pulled down and the 
lights put out. For three hours all sat in dark- 
ness facing death, fearing any moment to hear the 
cry for blood of the frenzied mob. The children 
were unaware of their danger, and slept, while 


\— 


82 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Dr. Jackson watched. At length there was a 
whistle, a puff of the engine, a jerk, and they 
were under way. In the morning they were in 
Albuquerque, and the long strain of six days and 
nights of great anxiety was over. 

At Albuquerque ten Pueblo children were 
waiting—five boys, Ty-ow-tye, San-ti-a-go, Se- 
wei-ku-tch-lye, Do-min-go and Se-a-she, and 
five girls, Wei-shu, Mo-na, Kwa-tu-ma, Swe- 
met-y-eit-sa and Se-wet-ye-weit-sa. This party 
of twenty-six Indian children was at length 
turned over to the Carlisle and Hampton Train- 
ing Schools for Indian Children. 

Many of the boys and girls who were protected 
by Dr. Jackson on the way to the schools long 
ago returned to their people. Some of them 
have lapsed into their former ways, but many 
more have profited by theii experience, and are. 
doing their best to lead the members of their 
tribes to a better way of living. Thus the mis- 
sionary pioneer who endured perils of mountain, 
flood, fire and robbers—-and more—for their sake, 
is active still in the country which he left so many 
years ago. Because his work was well done, it 
is bearing fruit to this day. 


TX 
NEW FIELDS TO CONQUER 


Like Kit Carson and Daniel Boone—The call 
of Alaska— Seward’s Folly” —A vast em- 








pire—A broken promise—Death-dealing 
traders—The cry that Sheldon Jackson 
heard. 


neer. He was like Kit Carson in at 

least one thing; it seemed to be his 
desire to keep ahead of civilization. So long 
as Colorado was the frontier, and there was need 
there for his valiant service, he was content with 
Colorado. When Arizona was all but unknown, 
he was eager to spend his days in organizing 
churches there, so that the territory might at- 
tract good citizens from the East. But when 
there were scores of churches and schools in 
Colorado and Arizona and the surrounding coun- 
try, he sighed for fresh fields to conquer. One 
admirer said of him, “ He is always on the skir- 
mish line, where there is the most of danger and 
of hard work. He seems to have a good deal of 
the spirit of Daniel Boone, who, as soon as new 
settlers came near enough for him to see the 
smoke from their cabins, felt that it was time for 

83 


G ce JACKSON was a true pio- 


84. The Alaskan Pathfinder 


him to move on.” But while it was the call of 
the wild that lured Daniel Boone from his old 
haunts, it was the call of the needy which sounded 
so loud in the ears of Sheldon Jackson that he 
became restless, even in the boundless West. 
During all the years of his hurrying to and 
fro through the territories of the plains and the 
Rocky Mountains, his eyes had been fixed on 
the newest part of the United States—the terri- 
tory of Alaska. Eagerly he devoured every bit 
of information he could secure concerning that 
remote district. Year by year the desire to go 
there became more a part of him. Successes 
nearer home made him hungry for a tussle with 
conditions in the northern land. He thought of 
Alaska by day and dreamed of it at night. To 
him the winds of the plains whispered “Alaska!” 
The creak of the stage wheels, the pounding ~ 
of the mustang’s heels on the trail, the click of 
the car wheels on the pioneer railway lines, united 
in the suggestion, “Alaska!” But for many 
years he contented himself with the work of his 
c Gi pate parish, which was larger than the empire 
of Alexander the Great. And while travelling 
up and down and to and fro through this parish 
of the prairies and mountains he took advantage 
of every opportunity to learn of the land of his 
dreams. Books and newspapers gave him some 
satisfaction; the few returning travellers with 
whom he talked added to his information; but 


New Fields to Conquer 85 


he delighted most of all to interview the hardy 
trappers and gold-seekers who had spent months 
or years among the natives and so could tell far 
more of real conditions than travellers who had 
merely skirted the edge of the mainland. 

It was in the spring of 1867, when he was at 
Rochester, Minnesota, that the papers gave what 
was to most Americans their first knowledge of 
Alaska... At that time there was a fierce struggle 
in the United States Senate between the friends 
of the treaty with Russia for the purchase of 
Alaska, and those who opposed them. Charles 
Sumner made one of his greatest orations in de- 
fense of the treaty. He told of the great wealth 
of the unknown land, spoke of its vast extent 
and its importance to our Pacific Coast, and 
predicted for it a great future. His earnest 
words carried conviction to those who heard 
him. The treaty was ratified on May 28, 1867. 
On October 18, 1867, Russian America became 
the property of the United States. Seven mil- 
lion, two hundred thousand dollars were paid for 
what the enemies of the purchase called “a field 
of perpetual ice,’ and the solemn promise was 
made that the inhabitants of the land should have 
all the “rights, advantages and immunities of 
citizens of the United States.” 

Then America speedily forgot the new terri- 
tory, or remembered it only to call it “ Seward’s 
Folly.” But Secretary Seward was willing to 


86 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


wait the judgment of later generations. When 
asked what he considered the most important 
act of his official life, he replied, “ The purchase 
of Alaska.” When his interviewer smiled pity- 
ingly, he added stoutly, “But it may take two 
generations before the purchase is appreciated.” 
Few others realized the truth, but Seward 
knew that he had added an empire to the United 
States. Alaska means “a great land,” and the 
name was well bestowed. As Sieldon Jackson 
once described its bounds for those who were 
not so enthusiastic as he concerning its possi- 
bilities: “It is as large as all the New England 
States, with New York and Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey thrown in; and then, in order to 
increase its size, you may add Ohio, and Indiana, 
and Illinois, and Michigan, and Kentucky, and 
Tennessee, and Virginia, and West Virginia, and 
yet you have not the number of square miles 
that is represented by Alaska. Or, in other 
words, Alaska is as large as all the rest of the 
United States east of the Missouri River, and 
north of the Carolinas and Georgia!”’ Then he 
called attention to the fact that the mainland is 
only a part of the territory ; the Aijeutian Islands 
and the islands to the south are well worth con- 
sidering. The Island of Attu, the western island 
of the Aleutians, is as far west of San Francisco 
as the extreme eastern cape of Maine is from 
San Francisco. Thus, instead of Kansas and 


New Fields to Conquer 87 


Missouri and Nebraska being the centre of the 
United States east and west, San Francisco is 
the centre. And when Sheldon Jackson thought 
of pioneering in Alaska, he was planning a jump 
of three or four thousand miles from Denver, 
which had long been the centre of his wonderful 
trips. 

It was soon learned by those who took the 
trouble to inquire that the “ field of perpetual 
ice”’ includes sections along the coast where the 
summers are warm and the winters mild, where 
many crops grow luxuriantly, and it is com- 
paratively easy for the worker to make provision 
for the long winter. 

Those who would not listen to these facts 
were astonished in a few years when they were 
informed that prospectors were proving that the 
land is rich in minerals; that the Alaska Com- 
pany—which had the sole right to hunt the fur- 
bearing seals—was annually paying the United 
States more than four per cent. on the price paid 
Russia, and that the rivers were so rich in salmon 
it was difficult for the fishermen to keep from 
making enormous profits—at a single haul at 
Karluk “sufficient salmon were caught after 
heads, tails and larger bones had been thrown 
away to fill seventy-two thousand one-pound 
cans.” 

It would seem that self-interest alone would 
have urged the United States to fulfill the solemn 


88 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


promise made to Russia. Yet years passed with. 
out an effort to give the Alaskans the benefit of 
our laws and our civilization. The sole repre- 
sentatives of the government were a company of 
two of soldiers at Sitka and a revenue cutter 
which steamed along the coast, and in and out 
among the islands, reaching with the strong arm 
of the law offenders of every kind. The captain 
had the power to arrest whom he chose, and 
could punish offenders as a drum-head court- 
martial decided. He was charged to be espe- 
cially active in pursuing those who disregarded 
the revenue laws by having in their possession a 
quantity of intoxicating liquor. On one occasion 
when this captain learned that a Sitka man was 
making native beer, he sent a force on shore to 
seize and destroy it. The owner became so 
furious at the loss of his liquor that he called 
upon the men to take everything he had, de- 
claring that without his liquor life was not worth 
living. When the revenue men left him, he was 
smashing his windows, throwing his crockery 
out of doors and breaking up his furniture gen- 
erally. 

In later years some of Sheldon Jackson’s most 
desperate adventures were with violators of the 
revenue laws, though he paid more attention 
to those who imported foreign liquor into the 
country than to the native manufacturers. 


The liquor smugglers were a continual source 
4 


New Fields to Conquer 89 


of vexation to the vigilant revenue officers, and 
a constant menace to the Alaskans. During one 
cruise two vessels were seized and sent to San 
Francisco for illicit traffic in whiskey and fire- 
arms. The whiskey was in bottles labelled 
“ Jamaica Ginger,’ “ Bay Rum,” “ Pain Killer,” 
and “ Florida Water,’ and was to be exchanged 
for furs, ivory, and whalebone. 

Sometimes the smugglers succeeded in landing 
their cargo. Then they would so demoralize the 
natives that these would neglect to put up their 
necessary winter supplies. The summer would 
be spent either in waiting the arrival of the 
whiskey-trader, or in carousing as long as the 
rum lasted. Winter would find them without 
food, and many would die of starvation. Ina 
single winter over four hundred people in one 
section died of starvation, and the remaining 
population only escaped a like fate by eating their 
dogs and the walrus-hides covering their houses 
and boats. This was the direct result of whiskey 
sold to them the previous summer. s 

On one occasion the captain of the revenue’ 
steamer found a village deserted, not a sign of 
life remaining. He counted fifty-four dead 
bodies. The women and children doubtless died 
first, and were buried. Most of those seen were 
just outside the village, with their sleds beside 
them, evidently having been dragged out by the 
survivors, as they died, until they, being too weak 


go The Alaskan Pathfinder 


for further exertion, went into their houses, and, 
covering themselves with skins, lay down and 
died. In many of the houses he saw from one to 
four dead bodies. One woman was found face 
down, just outside the door of a house; probably 
one of the last survivors, she had gone out to find 
relief from her horrible sufferings, and, over- 
come by weakness, had fallen and found relief in 
death. The body of a boy of perhaps sixteen 
years of age was found in the village, about half- 
way down a small hill, he having fallen as he 
descended and died as he fell. 

The people who were being exterminated in 
this way were either the Indians of Southeastern 
Alaska or the Aleuts of the Peninsula and the 
islands—all sturdy, self-respecting, progressive 
people, The Indians lived in large, permanent 
houses constructed of cedar, the timbers being 
frequently forty feet square. Many of them 
wore European clothing; some of them were 
quite wealthy. This wealth was measured in 
blankets—the only currency they knew. There 
were scores and even hundreds of men who were 
worth from five thousand to fifteen thousand 
blankets. 

The Aleuts—who were perhaps originally 
Indians, but had become civilized through contact 
with the Russians—lived in frame houses. Many 
of them could read and write Russian, and thought 
they were religious. 


New Fields to Conquer gi 


But there was no religion in Alaska, It 
- beloaged to a Christian country, yet no one took 
tiie trouble to carry to the nation’s wards the 
story of Jesus and His love. They heard thatin 
the near-by territory belonging to Great Britain, 
missionaries were teaching the people about God, 
and they wondered why no one came to them. 
“English Indians have missionary; why not 
Boston men?” they would ask. (Proudly they 
called themselves “ Boston men,’ for to them ° 
Boston stood for America.) 

“Me much sick heart,’ one Alaska chief 
mourned. ‘“ My people ali dark heart. Nobody 
tell them that Jesus died. By and by all my 
people die. Go down, down, pown ; dark.” 

In far-off Colorado Sheldon Jackson heard the 
call of despair, and longed for the time when he 
could respond to the pleas from the neglected 
land. 

And while he waited, God was preparing the 
ground for him, 


x 
HOW THE WAY WAS OPENED 


Throwing himself away—Native missionaries 
—Light Christian wood-cutters—A native 
school-teacher—The soldiers letter that 
moved Sheldon Jackson—The first school— 
The first church—The testimony of the 
Indians—Butlding a thousand miles from a 
hardware store—Salvaging a _ wrecked 
salmon cannery. 


HELDON JACKSON was still a college 
S student when a young man in England 
made up his mind to give his life to service 
among the Indians of British Columbia. He was 
such a promising young man that a merchant 
offered him one thousand pounds (or nearly five 
thousand dollars) a year if he would give up his 
plans and work at home; the prospect of a 
partnership within a few years was held out to 
him. But his answer was positive : 

“T thank you for your liberal offer, sir ; but I 
cannot accept it, as I have made up my mind to 
become a missionary.” 

« A missionary! And at what salary?” 

“J don’t know. Perhaps a hundred or a hun- 
dred and fifty pounds a year.” 

“ Ha! ha!” was the sneering comment. “ To 


92 


How the Way Was Opened | 93 


throw yourself away like that! You, who have 
one of the keenest business minds in England. 
You are making a fool of yourself!” 

“Fool or no fool, my mind is made up, and 
nothing can change it.” 

Finally William Duncan reached British Co- 
lumbia, and was near the proposed scene of his 
labours. Again well-meaning friends tried to 
move him from his plan. They assured him that 
life on the island where he was going would be 
unpleasant; that he would even be in danger. 
He was needed on the mainland. Why not stay 
there? 

The missionary’s answer was decisive. 

«The trouble is, I am sent to Fort Simpson, 
and to Fort Simpson I must go.” 

He went to Fort Simpson, and there he began 
his work among the Metlakahtla Indians that 
wrought a wonderful transformation in thousands 
of lives. 

Many Christian Indians, trained by Mr. Dun- 
can, went to other islands, to British Columbia 
and over to Alaska, carrying with them word of 
the teachings which had transformed them. 
When Sheldon Jackson visited the country he 
found some of these wanderers, and hastened to 
hunt up their missionary, who was a pioneer - 
after his own heart. 

A few years after Mr. Duncan opened his 
school, a missionary did some work at Victoria, 


94. The Alaskan Pathfinder 


British Columbia. Many natives became Chris- 
tians. Some of them lived near Victoria, but 
many were from the interior. A number had 
been leaders in evil, but after their conversion 
they seemed to feel that the most important 
thing in life was to go and tell their friends about 
Christ. They returned to their homes very soon, 
but wherever they went they told the simple 
story of Jesus and His love, as they had learned 
this when on the coast. 

One of these men was a chief who lived near 
Fort Simpson, where William Duncan had begun 
his work. When he reached home he astonished 
his people by inviting them to attend a school 
which he and his wife opened in their own house. 
Before long more than two hundred people of 
all ages were in attendance. There was no min- 
ister at hand, but the chief felt that Sunday serv- 
ices must be held, so these were conducted by 
him and by those whom he trained for the work. 
In 1874, when a Canadian missionary visited 
Fort Simpson, he found that every family in the 
region round about had turned from shameful 
things in their old life, and were eager for the in- 
struction of any one who could lead them forth 
in the right way. 

In 1876 eight of these native Christians went 
into Alaska. Their Christian habits speedily at- 
tracted attention. When they were given a gov- 
ernment contract to cut wood they declined to 


How the Way Was Opened 95 


work on Sunday, as this was their day for wor- 
ship. The commander of the Fort was an ear- 
nest Christian, and he advised with them and 
helped them. 

Feeling the need of some one to guide them, 
they begged a Canadian missionary to visit them. 
Late in the summer of 1876 he responded to 
this invitation and remained for a short time. 
Before he left he persuaded Clah, one of the eight 
wood-cutters who had come from Fort Simpson, 
to continue the services for the natives at the 
Fort. Then he wrote to two missionary societies 
in. the East, appealing for a missionary to go to 
the young Christians, but he was told that it was 
impossible to give the help he sought. Clah did 
‘not wait for the coming of a missionary, but 
gave his whole time to Christian work among 
his people. With one of his fellow wood-cutters, 
he opened a day-school, which had an attendance 
of ninety the first winter. Many of these were 
grown people. 

His earnestness and consecration were effect- 
ive. Through him God spoke to many of the 
natives, who speedily showed by their actions 
that they were changed men. That winter forty 
of them gave up their heathenism and declared 
that they would’ follow Christ, while many others 
gave up witchcraft, devil dances, and the observ- 
ances ordered by their conjurers and medicine 
men, 


96 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


In the spring of 1877 a man from Portland, 
Oregon, spent a short time at the Fort. While 
there he learned so much of what the Indians 
were doing for themselves that when he returned 
to Portland he told his pastor about them. His 
story of a people waiting for a missionary and 
doing their best as they waited, aroused the in- 
terest of many in the city. Attempts were made 
by some of them to arouse the Church in the 
East in behalf of the Indians, but still nothing 
was done. 

Then history repeated itself. More than forty 
years before a company of Oregon Indians had 
tramped to St. Louis in search of “the white 
man’s book of heaven.” This mission might 
have been without result but for the action of an 
Indian agent at St. Louis who wrote to a friend 
in New York City the story of the Indians’ 
search. The letter found its way into the papers, 
and Jason Lee and Marcus Whitman soon volun- 
teered to work among the Indians who had 
made the long journey for the white man’s Bible. 

J. S. Brown, one of the soldiers at Fort Wran- 
gell—though nota Christian man—was so deeply 
impressed by the earnestness of the Indians and 
so hurt by the neglect of the Christians of the 
East that he wrote a letter to General Howard, 
pleading for a missionary for the people who 
were trying to help themselves. 

That letter was handed to Sheldon Jackson, 


How the Way Was Opened 97 


who was soon on his way to Alaska, where most 
of his later work was to be done. 

On August 10, 1877, when he landed at Fort 
Wrangell, he found the little school taught by 
Clah. He was walking down the one business 
street in the town when he saw an Indian ring- 
ing a bell, calling the pupils to the afternoon 
school. About twenty pupils were in attendance, 
mostly young Indian women. This school Dr. 
Jackson made the beginning of his work for 
Alaska. An American teacher was put in charge, 
and he returned to the United States to continue 
his work in the Rocky Mountains. 

It was his plan to return as soon as possible, 
but there were many who opposed this. One 
minister wrote to him suggesting that if all the 
people in Alaska were Christians, they would not 
be worth so much to the country and the world 
as one live Christian in Arizona, New Mexico, 
Utah, or Idaho. 

This man’s objection was answered when—two 
years after Dr. Jackson’s first visit to Fort Wran- 
gell—a church was organized, as a result of the 
work done in the mission school. Of the twenty- 
three members received, eighteen were Indians 
At the service of organization the Indian mem. 
bers told their reasons for uniting with the church. 

Moses Louie said: “I am a sinner—very evil. 
My hope is that God has sent His Son to wash 
away my guilt. I believe that God has given 


98 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


me anew heart. I love to pray daily for strength. 
I want only one mind towards Christians.” 

Aaron Kohanow, who was formerly a shaman 
and a sorcerer, said: “ I understand very solemn 
thing to join the church. Indians don’t under- 
stand as well as white man about it. Willing to 
go on looking to God to help me. Understand 
how Christ has spoken that I must be born again. 
I want the new birth. I ask God to give mea 
new heart. God hear me. Take my sins and 
troubles to God.” Aaron had already ‘proved 
his earnestness by destroying the implements of 
hi8 sorcery. 

Chief John Kadishan said: “ Yes, true. The 
Lord die for us. Why disbelieve, when He suf- 
fered all pains for us. Hecame for our sin. I 
know it when a boy, but did not take it in my 
heart. Now I take it in. Bible teils us one 
brother, one heart. Try to love my brothers, to 
live straight. I fight the truth no more.” 

Lena Quonkah said: “I like to quit all my 

badness, and give it to Christ, and He take it. I 
like to live as a Christian—help the poor, pity 
the sick. I came to tell all my heart before these 
gentlemen. I tell it all to God.” 
.. Chief Toy-a-att said: “ You know all about 
how I formerly lived. How I was all the time 
in trouble and quarrelling—all the times when 
the ball or knife go through me. Now I quit it 
all. Jesus help me. I live peaceably.” 





How the Way Was Opened 99 


Richard Katchkuka said: “Great sinner— 
hungry and want something to eat of God’s 
Word to satisfy my soul.” 

Mary Katchkuka said: “I like to love Jesus. 
If in my house, or cave, or in the wood, wherever 
I am, I always pray to God.” 

The Indians needed a church and a new school, 
so arrangements were made at once to erect them. 
That was not so easy as it sounds to those who 
can send to the store for just what they want with 
the knowledge that the order will be filled at once. 
No one that has not tried building a thousand 
miles from a hardware store and a hundred miles 
from a sawmiil, in a community where there was 
not a horse, wagon or cart, and but one wheel- 
barrow, can realize thé vexatious delays incident 
to such work. Yet the house of worship was 
occupied for service within a few weeks, and the 
mission house enclosed before the cold weather 
put an end to outside work. 

Several years later Dr. Jackson had a building 
experience even harder. An Industrial School 
for boys at Sitka had been organized, and ac- 
commodations were needed for them. The site 
selected for the building was on a high bluff. 
Before building operations could begin, the 
stumps had to be cleared from the ground. 
These were so numerous that the labour of one 
hundred natives for a number of days was neces- 
sary to remove them. 


100 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


When the ground was ready, word was rex 


ceived that the mill from which the necessary 
lumber had been ordered would be unable to 
supply the demand. Most men would have 
been ready to give up, but not Dr. Jackson. 
When inquiring for lumber he learned of a 
salmon cannery six miles from Sitka which 
had been wrecked by the snows of the previous 
winter. The owners of the building were glad 
to accept the missionary’s offer to buy it. 

When Dr. Jackson examined his bargain, and 
found a mass of broken timber, he may have 
been dismayed for a moment. But he did not 
show it. Scores of Indians were taken to the 
wreck where they camped until—under his direc- 
tion—they rescued every timber worth using. 
The salvage was rafted to Sitka, and a three- 
story building, fifty by one hundred feet high, 
was begun. 

Dr. Jackson, the superintendent of building 
operations, found that his difficulties were not 
yet over. It was in the fall, when, day after day, 
rain descends on Sitka in torrents. The garments 
of the building overseer were soon drenched. At 
noon, when he went to dinner, he would change 
to dry clothing, only to find himself once more 
wet to the skin almost immediately after return- 
ing to work. 

The commanding officer of the United States 
Steamer Jamestown, at anchor in the harbour, 


How the Way Was Opened i101 


‘became so interested in the building operations 
that he sent fifty or more marines ashore with 
their officers, to help in roofing the home. Thus 
the building erected from the fragments of a 
wrecked salmon cannery in the midst of the rainy 
season was at length completed. 

When reports like this were taken to America, 
critics of Dr. Jackson’s work decided that the 
Alaska experiment was a success, and they were 
glad he had seen the vision of a country the size 
of the United States east of the Mississippi and 
north of the Gulf States won for Jesus Christ. 


XI 
_IN AN INDIAN CANOE 


Travelling in Alaska—Wiuth eighteen Indians 


in a thirty-five foot canoe—Cheering the 


rowers—The Indians who kept Sunday— 
A varied diet—Clubbing salmon—Twenty- 
three hours work aday—Riding the waves 
— Sleeping in the rain— Beat steamboat /” 
—A delayed reception—The Indians plea— 
A deserted village—A canoe maul route. 


R. JACKSON’S appetite for pioneering 

1) was too strong to allow him to be satis- 
fied with the work done at Fort Wran- 

gell and Sitka. Eager to find other locations for 
schools, he made many trips of exploration. 
Sometimes these trips were made comfortably by 
steamer, yet frequently they were made on 
snow-shoes, by dog sledge or behind reindeer. 
But perhaps the most exciting trip was made in 
1879. He had been waiting for a chance to go 
among the islands to the south, but the way did 
not open till a party of Indians came to Fort 
Wrangell in a canoe, on their way from the 
Chilcat country in the north to Fort Simpson. 


As there were eighteen Indians in the party,and 


as the canoe was rather heavily laden with furs 
102 


Oe. tate, 
eS Se 





UONVO NVASWIV NV DNICTING 








. 





In an Indian Canoe 103 


for the trading post at the fort, most people would 
have thought it best not to take passage. But 
Dr. Jackson was not thinking of comfort. So he 
asked to be allowed to go along, and rejoiced 
when permission was given. 

He was told to take a seat in the centre of the 
thirty-five foot canoe, after stowing his blankets 
and provisions near by. About him were six 
Christian Indians and twelve wild Chilcat sav- 
ages, headed by two chiefs, one of whom was a 
medicine-man or shaman. When all was ready 
the strange party left the Fort. 

Frequently along the way the Chilcat Indians 
would break out into singing one of their national 
airs to cheer the rowers. This would challenge 
the Christian Indians, who would follow with a 
number of hymns. Once, after a large number 
of these had been sung, the old Chilcat shaman 
inquired, “ Who is this Jesus you sing about? ” 
Then the Tsimpsean Indians told about Jesus. 
Their words were listened to with respect, for the 
Christian Indians had been proving their religion 
by their actions. 

They were returning from a voyage of over a 
thousand miles, They had been on their way 
for weeks. But under no circumstances would 
they travel on Sunday. Upon one occasion they 
were nearly out of food, and their heathen com- 
panions urged them to continue the voyage, that 
they might reach an Indian village, and procure 


104 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


supplies. The heathen said, “ We are hungry, 
and you are no friends of ours if you do not 
go where you can get something to eat.” But 
neither tide, wind nor hunger could induce them 
to travel on Sunday. The grumbling of their 
heathen companions changed to admiration, and 
the Christian rowers had their chance to tell why 
they loved Jesus. 

About six in the afternoon the canoe was run 
upon the beach, and an hour was spent in supper, 
which, for the Indians, consisted of tea and 
salmon. Embarking at seven, they paddled until 
ten o'clock, when, finding an opening on the rock- 
bound coast, they put ashore, spread their blan- 
kets upon the sand, and were soon sound asleep. 
At three in the morning they were roused, and 
were soon under way, without any breakfast. 
This, however, did not matter much to Dr. Jack- 
son, as he had his ownstock of provisions, which 
consisted of ship biscuit and smoked salmon. 
He had biscuit and salmon for breakfast and 
supper, and varied the diet by eating salmon 
and biscuit for dinner. But he fared better than 
the Indians. They averaged only one meal in 
each twenty-four hours. 

During the morning the mouth of a shallow 
mountain stream was reached, and the canoe was 
anchored to a big rock. The Indians waded up 
the stream, and in a few minutes, with poles and 
paddles, clubbed to death thirty or more salmon, 


—— oy 


a 


In an Indian Canoe 105 


averaging twenty-five pounds in weight. These 
were drawn into the canoe and taken along. 

At noon they put ashore for their first meal 
that day. Fires were made under the shelter of 
a great rock. The fish, cleaned and hung upon 
sticks, were soon broiling before the fire, After 
dinner all hands took a napupon the beach. At 
three o’clock they were again under way. When 
night came, finding no suitable landing-place, the 
Indians paddled on until two o'clock next morn- 
ing, having made a day’s work of twenty-three 
hours. Then, finding a sheltered bay, they ran 
ashore. As it was raining hard, they spread 
their blankets, as best they could, under shelter- 
ing rocks or projecting roots of the big pines. 

At six o'clock they rose from an uncomfort- 
able sleep and embarked and paddled until nine, 
when they went ashore for breakfast. In an 
hour they were again under way, the Indians 
working hard at the paddle until the middle of 
the afternoon, when they ran ashore upona rocky 
point for a short rest and sleep, the sea being 
very rough. 

In an hour and a half they were again on their 
journey. Towards evening they passed Cape 
Fox and boldly launched out to cross an arm of 
the sea. Soon it was seen that it was not a 
favourable time for putting to sea, but there was 
nothing to be done but go ahead, for, once out, it 
was as dangerous to turn back as to go forward. 


106 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


The night was dark, the waves rolled high, and 
the storm was fierce. One Indian stood upon the 
prow of the canoe, watching the waves and giv- 
ing orders. Every man was at his place, and the 
stroke of the paddles kept time with the measured 
song of the leader, causing the canoe to mount 
each wave with two strokes; then, with a click, 
each paddle would, at the same instant, strike the 
side of the canoe and remain motionless, gather- 
ing strength for the next wave. As the billows 
struck the canoe, it quivered from stem to stern. 

Thus they passed the long, tedious night, tossed 
in a frail canoe upon the waters, in the rain and 
fog and darkness. But daylight found them 
near an Indian village and an abandoned military 
fort. Some of the Indians were so exhausted by 
the labours of the night that they dropped asleep 
at their paddles, so it was thought best to go 
ashore and get some rest. 

On shore they tried to start a fire, but the 
driving rain soon extinguished it. After taking 
his regulation meal of salmon and hardtack, Dr. 
Jackson spread his blankets under a big log and 
tried to sleep. The beating storm soon saturated 
the blankets, and he awoke to find the water 
running down his back. Rising, he paced up and 
down the beach until the Indians were ready to 
move on. After resting for two hours, seeing no 
signs of a lull in the storm, they reémbarked, 
determined, if possible, to make Fort Simpson. 


In an Indian Canoe 107 


After getting out of the shelter of the island 
into Dixon’s Inlet, another arm of the ocean, 
they found the wind in their favour. Hoisting 
both sails, they drove through the waves ata 
slashing rate. The corner of the sail dipped 
into the water, and occasionally the waves ran 
over the side into the canoe. This was fun for 
the Indians, who would again and again exclaim, 
as the masts bent under the sails, “ Beat steam- 
boat! Beat steamboat!” 

Cold, wet and hungry, that afternoon they ran 
into the harbour at Fort Simpson. 

At Fort Simpson Dr. Jackson learned that the 
Indians had been ready to welcome him in July, 
when his steamer passed on its way north, but 
had been disappointed because landing proved 
impossible. When they learned that the white 
man who stepped from the canoe on their beach 
was the missionary of whom they had heard so 
much, a meeting of the chiefs and councilmen 
was called at once to give a public welcome. 

At the time appointed for this, Chief Moses 
McDonald made an address, which was interpreted 
thus by the Methodist missionary at Fort Simp- 
son: 

“Your coming has made our hearts very 
happy. We expected you before. Our people 
came in and made great preparations. We 
festooned our streets in your honour, but you did 
notcome. Our flowers and evergreens faded ; our 


108 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


people went back to their fisheries. But though 
now, because our people are away, we cannot make 
much demonstration, our hearts are just as glad. . 

« We are glad you are coming to help the poor 
people, our.neighbours, the Stickeens. When we 
hear of the great American nation—the large 
cities, the great business houses, the vast wealth 
and churches—we are amazed that you did not 
do something for these people a long time ago. 
We hope you will tell your people about it strong. 
We hope you will have whiskey put down. We 
have put it down here, and it can be put down 
there.” 

Another speaker said: 

“ Look, we thought it was only the English 
and Canadian that loved to help these people, 
because we saw no one else come. But now we 
see our American friends come and have warm, 
strong hearts too. Now we all work together 
for Christ. Last winter we went far off, and 
carried God’s word wherever we went. We did 
not go to make merry or get great names, but to 
carry the word of God to others. We visited 
four large villages that asked where the mission- 
ary was. We had no authority to tell them that 
one would come, but we said to them, ‘ Tell God 
your hearts. Pray to Him to send a missionary, 
and one will come.’ ” 

At Fort Simpson the two chiefs who had 
made the trip in the canoe were able to explain 


In an Indian Canoe 109 


to Dr. Jackson—through an interpreter—what 
they had tried to say to him on the voyage. 
They said they wanted a missionary for their 
people, the Chilcats. He agreed to do what he 
could for them. He made the same promise to 
the Hydahs, on whose island the party camped 
one night. A delegation of Tongas also pleaded 
for a missionary, urging that they wanted to 
know the white man’s secret. 

Perhaps the sight of the entire voyage that 
made the deepest impression on him was an 
abandoned Stickeen village. A number of the 
ancient totem poles were still standing, sur- 
mounted by grotesque images, and containing 
the bones and ashes of the former inhabitants. 
Many had fallen amid the dense undergrowth of 
bushes and ferns. Some of the corner-posts of 
their large houses were still standing, resting 
upon the top of which were immense beams, 
some of them three feet through and from forty 
to sixty feet long. 

The vision of the villages of the living, crying 
out for the Gospel, led very soon to the organiza- 
tion of missions and schools at a number of 
widely scattered points. Communication be- 
tween them was so difficult that Dr. Jackson 
later made a contract with the officials of the 
United States Post-Office Department to supply 
four of his stations with a monthly mail, to be. 
carried by Indians in canoes. 


XII 
AN OFFICER OF THE GOVERNMENT 


Pleading for the Alaskans rights—Doing 
double work—Brave teachers—A bandoning 
a village to go to school—A princely salary— 
The “Leo's” strange burden—A stormy voy- 
age—Travelling eughty miles to school— 
Dirt houses—Why the goats were killed— 
A crowded schoolroom—In a native house. 


HELDON JACKSON realized that the 
_ Church should not carry the burden of 
educating the Indian. Long before, the 
-» government had promised Russia that the resi- 
dents of Alaska should have all the privileges of 
American citizens, and he proposed to see to it 
that this promise was kept. He interviewed of- 
ficers of the government, visited Congress, made 
public addresses, wrote hundreds of letters, al- 
ways insisting, urging, entreating that the Alas- 
kans be given their rights. 
At last he had his reward. On January 8, 
1880, he wrote in his diary : 
«Secured the passage of a resolution for 
schools in Alaska.” 
This was his simple way of telling the result of 
his long struggle. 


Ito 


An Officer of the Government 111 


There was no provision for his support in the 
Alaska work, either by the government or by the 
Church, but he resolved to continue at his own 
charges. He felt that if the work was to be 
- done, it was to be done, and there was no time 
to be lost. He still continued his work in New 
Mexico, but he managed to make his annual 
short trips to Alaska count so heavily that one 
who reads of his work is surprised to know that 
he did not give his full time to it. 

In America he visited the seminaries, seeking 
for men to go to Alaska; he made hundreds of 
public addresses, in the effort to arouse enthusi- 
asm, and he collected thousands of dollars for 
special Alaska work. Then he hurried to Alaska 
with the men and women missionaries he had 
secured, went with them to their fields, remained 
with them while new stations were being opened, 
and then hurried on to still other points of van- 
tage. 

In this way he kept the promise made to the 
pagan chiefs on the canoe voyage to Fort Simp- 
son, establishing the Haines mission in the al- 
most unknown country of the Chilcat tribes. 
Dr. Jackson borrowed the money, erected a 
house for the missionaries, and left them to do 
their work. They were brave, or they would 
have been dismayed at the thought of remaining 
in the wilderness, with no companions but In- 

dians. | The short summer was near its end, and 


ton 


AN 


112 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


they must look forward to along winter when 
there would be five months of deep snow. They 
knew that in December the day from sunrise to 
sunset would be four hours long. They knew 
that when the last trading boat left them in the 
autumn, they could look for no boats, no white 
faces, no mails, no supplies of any kind, until 
five or six months had passed. But theirs was 
the spirit of the hero, and they were not dis- 
mayed. 

At once the new station proved a success. 
Not only were the Indians of the town reached, 
but others at a distance. Within a few months 
Don-a-wauk, chief of the village of Tindestak, 
persuaded his people to move in a body to 
Haines, in order to have the benefit of attending 
school and learning how to be good. There 
were one hundred and seventy-two people in the 
village. They abandoned sixteen houses which 
had cost them much labour, although they knew 
they would have to build new houses at Haines. 

Another mission was located at Klukwan, a 
Chilcat village. Then a canoe voyage was made 
among the Hydahs. For five hundred miles the 
hardy missionary travelled along the coast, en- 
during all kinds of hardship, but rejoicing be. 
cause he could go among a people who were 
hungry for the school and the church. 

For a long time neither the Church nor the 
government authorized him to spend much 


An Officer of the Government 113 


money, but in 1885, in response to his pleas, 
Congress appropriated twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars for schools in Alaska. He was appointed 
United States Commissioner of Education fo: 
Alaska—an office retained for many years—with 
full authority to spend the money at his own dis- 
cretion. His salary at first was twelve hundred 
dollars; later it was adjusted in such a way that 
the Church paid part, while the government paid 
the balance of a total that was never adequate. 
In 1886 Dr. Jackson chartered the schooner 
Leo for the purpose of gathering information and 
establishing schools in Western Alaska. Within 
a month he had collected teachers from Texas, 
California and Washington Territory, and these 
were embarked at Puget Sound. On the vessel 
was a supply of family furniture and household 
supplies and a large quantity of lumber for school- 
houses. Because of the absence of trees in the 
section in which the schools were to be estab- 
lished, lumber had to be brought from a distance. 
The departure was delayed till September, so 
the voyage proved to be stormy. One hundred 
and four days were consumed onthe way. After 
passing through the equinoctial storms, the vessel 
encountered the early gale of that high northern 
latitude. Two sails were carried away, the ship 
was stranded on a reef of rocks, a sailor was 
nearly lost overboard, and those who were able 
to eat were frequently lashed to the table in the 


114 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


cabin, while great seas repeatedly washed com. 
pletely over the ship, 

The first stop was at Kadiak, a village of forty- 
three log houses, twenty-three rough board houses, 
and twelve painted houses. For twenty-five years 
there had been no provision for instruction in the 
village, and the people were eager for the coming 
of the teachers, Six months before the arrival 


of Dr. Jackson and his party a family at the. 


southern end of the island, hearing that the gov- 
ernment was preparing to establish a school at 
Kadiak, broke up housekeeping, and the mother 
and two grown daughters came eighty miles by 
sea to attend school, arriving weeks in advance 
of the teacher. Another woman and her five 
children, while on their way for a like reason, 
were drowned at sea. 

At Apognak Island there were one hundred 
and forty-six school children. ‘The Leo anchored 
opposite the village just after breakfast. Soona 
bidarka, or skin-covered canoe, was at the side 
of the vessel. The Commissioner was paddled 
ashore, and went in search of a house for the 
teacher and the school. During his absence the 
crew unloaded into small boats the furniture and 
supplies of the minister and his wife, who were 
to be teachers there. By the time the first boat- 
load of goods reached the beach through the 
surf, the house was rented. The day was con- 
sumed in unloading the supplies. The next day 


An Officer of the Government 115 


the voyage was resumed, and the teachers were 
left to make the best of the situation; they were 
among Aleuts who knew not a word of English, 
and the teachers knew nothing of the native 
tongue. But very soon they learned to under- 
stand one another. 

At Karluk were found one hundred and eight- 
een children. The people there lived in barra- 
barras, or dirt houses partly under ground, which 
were from twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter. 
To erect one an excavation from two to five feet 
deep was made the full size of the proposed 
building. Upon the edge of this excavation a 
framework of driftwood (sometimes whalebones) 
was erected, sloping in. Around this frame were 
piled the dirt and sod taken from the excavation. 
Poles were laid across the top, covered with 
grass, then with dirt and sod two feet thick. A 
narrow hall six feet long, two feet wide, and 
three feet high, furnished the entrance. A hole 
in the centre of the roof was left for the smoke. 
At a little distance, a village looked like a group 
of earth mounds. In the damp coast climate 
these houses were covered with a dense growth 
of grass and flowers. A few years before Dr. 
Jackson’s visit a kind-hearted trader, to increase 
the comfort of the people, imported some goats, 
but the animals had to be killed, for they would 
persist in feeding upon the top of the houses, 
causing them to leak. 


116 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


After leaving Karluk the voyagers were tossed 
about for two days in a severe storm before 
rounding Cape Alitak. Anchor was cast in a 
bay of the same name. The next morning three 
natives came off and piloted the Commissioner to 
Akliok. The village contained forty-eight chil- 
dren and fifty-seven adults, living in barrabarras. 
Many of the people had never before seen white 
women. | 

At Unga, the centre of the cod fishery of the 
North Pacific, books, desks, and supplies were 
unloaded, and a husband and wife were left as 
teachers. The only place they could secure for 
the school was a room nine and one-half by 
twenty-two feet. Into this small room they 
were compelled to crowd from twenty-four to 
thirty-two pupils and visitors. 

At Texikan there was no suitable dwelling to 
be had, and the teacher was compelled to occupy 
a portion of one of the native houses. This was 
a plank building about thirty-seven feet square 
with a rotten bark roof. Through the cracks of 
the plank floor, the surf could be seen at high 
tide dashing under the building. The house, 
after the native style, was in two rooms. Enter- 
ing the door a step led down two feet to a plank 
platform seven and a half feet wide. The plat- 
form extended around the four sides of the room. 
From the platform at the door, steps descended 
three feet to the lower floor, which formed a pit 


An Officer of the Government 1 17 


about twenty-two feet square. In the centre of 
the floor a space eight feet square had been left 
unplanked. This was the fireplace. In the roof 
directly over it an opening eight feet square had 
been left for the escape of the smoke. Through 
the same hole, the rain sometimes descended in 
sufficient quantity to put out the fire. On the 
platform opposite the door was a small room 
fifteen and one-half by six and one-half feet in 
size, used as a bed and storeroom. Such was 
the material from which to create a schoolhouse 
and residence. 

To make the schoolroom, the hole in the 
roof was roughly boarded up, and a large box 
stove was placed in the pit. Posts were erected 
at each corner of the pit, and double width sheet- 
ing was stretched across the poles, curtaining off 
the platform on two sides of the room, These 
platforms became the residence of the teacher. 
The native owner with his family occupied the 
other two platforms. Into this dilapidated and 
uncomfortable building the cultured family of the 
missionary teacher moved without a murmur. 
That winter, in this schoolhouse, they accom- 
modated one hundred and eighty-four pupils. 


XIII 
WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE 


Hleroes of the North—“ To talk English to 
the dog’’—The mussionary's plea—Eskimo 
porters—Butlding a schoothouse—A lonely 
teacher-—The Midnight Sun—Pancakes as 
a reward—A night twenty-four days long 
—The Graveyard of Ships—In the te 
pack—Farthest north—Transformation— 
“Speaking strong all the one way.” 


‘ ES, they are heroes, every one of 
, them !” 

The missionary secretary was not 
talking of men who have died on the battle- 
field, or have given up their lives for others in 
a burning mine, or have chosen to drown that 
the life-boats might be filled with women. He 
was speaking of men and women who have 
shown a higher type of courage. For they 
choose to live in the frozen north, not for the 
sake of gain, but for the sake of the souls of men 
and women and children. 

It takes courage to face a winter far up in the 
land of ice and snow, where the thermometer 
frequently drops to a point so low that those 

118 


Within the Arctic Circle 119 


who dwell in the temperate zone can have no 
appreciation of the cold, where the nights are 
almost endless and the days so short that they 
are done almost before they are begun, where 
for months at a time no one is seen but the 
members of one’s own household and a few fur- 
clad Eskimos. 

One whom Sheldon Jackson told of the heroes 
with whom he had manned the mission outposts 
in Alaska listened in wonder to the simply told 
story of what the missionaries endure without a 
murmur. Then he tried to make real to others 
the vivid picture drawn for him, 

“To appreciate the courage that faces such 
conditions, we must consider what it means to 
be separated from- one’s kindred. It is almost 
equivalent to being cut off from communion with 
the human race. Living, as we do in populous 
communities, we can hardly comprehend the 
awful silence and loneliness of the Arctic Circle, 
where men are almost buried alive. Their situ- 
ation is in some respects worse than that of 
exiles in Siberia, for the exiles can at least have 
the companionship of sorrow. But some of our 
missionaries are literally out of the world. They 
receive a mail only once a year. Months may 
pass without seeing a familiar face. In one case, 
a missionary was left alone among the Eskimos 
for a whole winter. At last there came a party 
of natives with a dog which had been given 


120 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


ow 


} 
‘ 
} 


et 


them by an English trader; and for want of 
other company, the poor missionary trudged 
over the snow every day, as he expressed it, ‘ to 
talk English with that dog.’ How he must have 
yearned for the sight of one of his race, with 
whom he could speak in his own tongue wherein 
he was born! Add to this tie of blood that of 
Christian brotherhood, and how overmastering 
must be the longing for some fellow-being whom 
he could. call brother, and press to his aching | 
bosom !” 

Yet these lonely workers do not beg to be re- 
lieved of their burdens. This attitude is illus- 


trated by the plea made some years ago bya 


missionary on a desolate island off the coast of 
Alaska. A home missionary secretary had per- 
suaded the captain of the vessel on which he was 
a passenger to go out of his course that he might 
visit the workers on the island. Under protest 
the captain did this. When the vessel reached 
the island the secretary was told he could have 
exactly an hour. So the visitor went over the 
side, and was carried to the overjoyed mission- 
aries, who met him at the landing, For an hour ~ 
they talked of the work; of the native converts 
who were growing in grace; of the other natives 
who gave their teachers much pain; of the Sun- 
day-school and its prosperity ; of the needs of the 
field. And they had prayer together. Then the 
whistle sounded, and farewells were spoken, 


s 


Within the Arctic Circle 121 


The secretary, in saying good-bye, impulsively 
turned to the missionary’s wife, and asked: 

“Ts there anything I can do for you—anything 
at all?” 

She looked at him earnestly, and said: 

« Yes, just one thing.” 

The secretary was sorry he had said anything ; 
he feared she was about to ask him to take them 
all home with him. But, instead of that, she 
said: 

“Just let us stay here.” 

And so he left them—the earnest husband, the 
white-faced wife, the sickly little babe—left them 
to their Indian neighbours; left them to service, 
and suffering, and sorrow—for the babe died soon 
after, and the little body was laid in the earth on 
the island where the parents were devoting their 
lives for other children, and for the children’s 
parents. 

' Because Sheldon Jackson was himself willing 
to endure hardships of every kind in his work as 
a leader, he was able to inspire others with cour- 
age like that shown by those island missionaries. 
Contact with him was electrical in its effect. An 
hour’s talk with him was enough to persuade 
men and women who perhaps had never thought 
of a life on the home mission field to volunteer 
their services for some difficult field far from the 
haunts of men, 

Dr. Jackson told them frankly just what they 


122 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


would have to endure. He spoke of the rigours 
of the Arctic winters, the necessary isolation 
from the outside world for perhaps a year or 
more, the difficulties connected with teaching 
among a people who were, as a rule, ignorant of 
English, and the hardships, privations and perils 
of the work. And many said they were willing 
to endure these things, “Sometimes their courage 
failed them later. More than one turned back 
when about to sail from Puget Sound fora home 
amid “the great white silence.” “But ‘most of 
those with whom the pioneer arranged to take 
charge of his schools could not be moved from 
their purpose. — 

- A number of men with the spirit of Sheldon 
Jackson accompanied him on a trip made in the 
summer of 1890 for the purpose—among many 
other things—of founding three contract schools. 
Part of the expense for these contract schools 
was paid by the government, arrangements being 
made with churches to erect the buildings and 
administer the government funds by agreement 
or contract. 

On July 4, after a trying voyage, the United 
States revenue steamer Bear reached Cape Prince 
of Wales, where one of the schools was to be 
placed. Dr. Jackson and the schoolmaster went 
ashore early in the afternoon, and they celebrated 
the day by locating at this extreme western end 
of the western hemisphere the site for the first 


Within the Arctic Circle 123 


schoolhouse and mission on the western coast of 
Alaska. 

Immediately the foundations were laid, and 
arrangements were completed for the erection of 
the building. With great difficulty material and 
furniture were landed from the Bear. From the 
beach to the site selected many Eskimo porters 
carried the freight on their heads and shoulders, 
the women taking loads as large as the men; two 
hundred and fifty pounds was not an unusual 
load. The Eskimos may be little of stature, but 
they are sturdy. 

Ship carpenters seized eagerly on the timbers 
and began to shape them for use. Four of these 
men belonged to ships in the Arctic whaling 
fleet, which were waiting at Port Clarence for the 
steamer bearing supplies from San Francisco, be- 
fore separating for their quest in the Arctic. 
When the Sear reached the fleet on July 2, Dr. 
Jackson asked for men who would help him build 
two American schoolhouses in that desolate land, 
and four men offered their services without pay. 
The captain of the Sear assigned from his own 
ship two carpenters and ten or twelve men. 
Thus the force which set to work at Cape Prince 
of Wales was able to complete the building in 
eight days. 

When the Sear proceeded northward the 
schoolhouse was ready for the teacher. He was 
alone, but he was not dismayed. He knew that 


124 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


he was only forty miles from Siberia, the land of 
the Russian exile, but he did not think of himself 
as an exile. With a look of courage in his eyes 
he followed the Sear as it steamed away. Then 
he examined again his little rocky kingdom and 
its surroundings. To the north he could see the 
Arctic Ocean; to the south, Bering Straits, the 
coast of Siberia and Diomede Islands. Back of 
him were the mountain peaks, twenty-five hun- 
dred feet high. And in his heart was the pur- 
pose to give himself without reserve to the serv- 
ice of the people in the native village of King-e- 
gan at his feet. 

At Point Hope Dr. Jackson saw the Midnight 
Sun which dipped about half-way into the water 
and then commenced to rise again. There for 
three days the Bear lay at anchor, riding out a 
gale. Ten days later at the same place, in a 
similar storm, a ship while discharging freight 
was driven into the breakers and wrecked, and 
her crew took refuge on the Bear. 

The storm abated on Monday, July 21, and 
the ship was moved nearer the village. Dr. 
Jackson went ashore to inspect the school build- 
ing, which was already in process of erection by 
the volunteer carpenters who had been sent ahead 
from Cape Prince of Wales on another vessel, 
while the finishing touches were being put to the 
school there. Several carpenters from the Bear 
were sent ashore to assist in the work. By night 


Within the Arctic Circle 125. 


the building was ready. Then the native helpers 
were paid by Dr. Jackson, the schoolmaster was 
put in charge of the property, and the steamer 
resumed its voyage to Point Barrow. 

The school was opened on October 1, 1890. 
The day brought with it a blizzard and snow- 
storm that lasted for nine days. During the 
morning, the teacher occupied the schoolroom 
alone, but as time passed and no pupils came, 
he put on his furs and started for the village to 
hunt up the children. He found a boy walking 
on the beach. Taking him into the schoolroom, 
he commencedschool. At its close, he presented 
his pupil with a couple of pancakes left from his 
own breakfast. The effect was equal to any re- 
ward of merit. That boy proved one of the most 
regular in attendance during the entire winter 
season. The next morning four presented them- 
selves, and from that the school grew to sixty- 
eight. A mixture of flour, molasses and water 
made a sort of cake, a little of which was given 
to the pupils each evening, proving a very cheap 
and efficient method of securing regular attend- 
ance, and promoting discipline, as they had to be 
both present and perfect in their deportment 
and recitations to be entitled to cake. The 
pupils usually arrived from six to seven in the 
morning, and remained all day. The sun dis- 
appeared on December 10, and returned on 
January 3, giving them a night of twenty-four 


126 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


days. Lamps were required in the schoolroom 
from November 12 to February 9. During Feb- 
ruary and a portion of March a series of bliz- 
zards set in that were beyond description. The 
ice was solid across the ocean to Cape Prince of 
Wales, two hundred miles distant. ‘The effect of 
the gales was such that at times it seemed as if the 
schoolhouse must be blown away. Snow flew in 
perfect sheets. Theschoolhouse was located two 
miles from the village, and yet, notwithstanding 
the storm and distance, the attendance was good. 
For a few days the teacher hired men to see the 
little ones safely home through the storm, but 
soon found that the precaution was unnecessary ; 
they were accustomed to take care of themselves. 

On July 24 the Bear passed into what is 
known as the Arctic Graveyard of Ships. In the 
twenty years before that date seventy-five vessels 
connected with the whale trade had been wrecked 
on the American side of the Arctic Coast, and 
perhaps twenty on the Asiatic side. Vigilant 
watchers studied the ice pack in order to keep 
the Lear from being added to the list. The pack 
was not so bad as on a previous voyage, when 
the captain spent seventy-five consecutive hours 
in the crow’s nest at the masthead, his food 
being taken up to him. 

On July 30, after a week of waiting, the vessel 
still lay off the ice pack. That night as all were 
on deck watching the Midnight Sun, a large field 


Within the Arctic Circle 127 


of shore ice was seen drifting toward the ship. 
For a while the Sear held fast as the great cake 
broke on her bow and ground against her sides ; 
but by and by the pressure became too great 
and she dragged her anchor, and commenced 
drifting towards the shoals. Steam was at once 
raised, the anchor hove to, and the ship set at 
work bucking her way through the ice. Once 
under way the captain concluded to go on again 
until stopped by theice. ‘Threading his way care- 
fully through masses of floating ice, he reached 
and anchored on the morning of July 31, off the 
village of Oot Reavie, near Point Barrow. 

Here the third school was located. It had 
been impossible to bring material for the build- 
ing, SO a room was secured in one of the buildings 
of the government Refuge Station, built the year 
before to give aid to shipwrecked whalers. This 
was then—and is to-day—the most northern 
mission station in the world, being in latitude 
seventy-one degrees twenty-three minutes north, 
or further north than the North Cape in Europe. 

Dr. Jackson left the missionary with a promise 
to return the next year with supplies. But the 
promise could not be kept. When within seventy 
miles of Point Barrow the Sear was compelled to 
give up the attempt to force a way through the 
ice pack. However, the teacher was able to reach 
the ship over the ice and had a long talk with Dr. 
Jackson before turning back to his lonely post of 


128 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


duty. The material for the schoolhouse was 
landed at Cape Prince of Wales, where it was to 
remain until conditions made possible the journey 
to Point Barrow. 

The attempt made in 1892 was more success- 
ful. The Sear reached Point Barrow and lefta 
bell and other supplies for the schoolhouse. 

The influence of these northern schools and 
mission stations has been wonderful. It is said 
that when the mission at Cape Prince of Wales 
was established, the village in which it was lo- 
cated was so notorious for treachery and high- 
handed wickedness that no whaler had dared to 
drop anchor in its neighbourhood for ten years. 
The placing of the mission station there was re- 
garded by the officers of the whaling vessels as a 
foolhardy undertaking, from which no good 
could result. Yet the whole community has 
been transformed. It is now safe for the trader, 
the miner and the sailor. The whalers anchor 
their ships before the village and land their crews 
in safety. 

The Eskimos at Point Barrow did not bear 
such an evil reputation, yet even there it was 
thought necessary to build a fortified habitation 
for the men in charge of the government Refuge, 
and sailors wrecked in the vicinity knew better 
than to expect kindness. There is no longer 
need for the fortified building, and it has been 
dismantled. A company of two hundred ship- 


Within the Arctic Circle 129 


wrecked sailors learned the reason for this action 
by the government when they approached the 
village, and were given help and protection. 

Before placing these missions Dr. Jackson 
showed his wisdom in planning that there should 
be no denominational rivalry in Alaska. Once 
an Indian said to him, “ We do not think it well 
to have two churches (denominations) among the 
Stickeens. The Stickeens ought to speak strong 
all the one way.” That the natives of Alaska 
might have every encouragement to “speak 
strong all the one way,” Dr. Jackson sought to 
interest a number of denominations in his plans. 
The representatives of these denominations 
shared his enthusiasm, and easily reached an 
agreement for the division of the territory among 
them. ” 

Now all are working together for a Christian 
Alaska. 


XIV 
A SEVEN YEARS’ FIGHT 


“You ll catch wt from your father’’—Dr. Jack- 
son’s hardest battle—The rebellion of Shus- 
taks—The Christians agreement—Toy-a- 
att’s appeal to Washington—Besieging Con- 
gress—Victory at last—Trumped-up indict- 
ments—Arvrestea—The President interferes 

—Vindtcated. 


MASSACHUSETTS boy of fifteen was 
AN on his way home from school when he 

heard an older boy insult a girl. His 
polite intimation that such language was ungen- 
tlemanly provoked a fight. The younger boy 
was victor in the prolonged contest that followed, 
and the older boy was compelled to apologize to 
the girl, and promise that he would never do the 
like again. As the victor—with clothes torn and 
one eye closed—was starting homeward, an ac- 
quaintance called: 

“ You'll catch it from your father ! ” 

But the boy was not dismayed. He was on 
intimate terms with his parents; he understood 
them and they understood him. As soon as he 
reached home he sought the father, who greeted 
him : 

130 


A Seven Years’ Fight 131 


“ Been fighting, eh? Did you have a good 
reason? All right, then; tell me about it some 
time when we have a chance for one of our good 
talks.” 

Sheldon Jackson must have been trained by 
such a father. Though he was a man of peace, 
he believed in fighting—when there was a good 
reason. At first those who opposed him thought 
they had nothing to fear from an undersized man 
like him. But they soon learned their mistake. 
They discovered that when he decided that a 
contest was necessary he would go into it for all 
he was worth, and that there would be no break- 
ing his bulldog grip until the fight was won. 

The biggest fight of Sheldon Jackson’s life 
was the contest for good government in Alaska, 
The story of how this was waged and won after 
seven years’ relentless pursuit of the friends first 
of no government, then of misgovernment, is a 
chapter in American history of which no one 
should be ignorant. 

When the hardy pioneer arranged for the 
opening of the first school in Alaska, the land 
was still without a government, though ten years 
had passed since Russia turned over the country 
to the United States. On every hand was reck- 
less disregard of law—-or what would have been 
law if any recognized power had thought it 
worth while to make it and provide for its en- 
forcement. 


132 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


The Indians of southeast Alaska pleaded for 
government interference with those who made 
life unpleasant, but they were not able to make 
their pleas heard in Washington, and no atten- 
tion was paid to them. 

The conditions in the territory were illustrated 
by those at Fort Wrangell. Here there were 
five hundred whites and a thousand Indians, 
Gambling, drunkenness and debauchery were so 
common that they excited no comment. The 
soldiers had been withdrawn, and there were no 
officers and no courts for the protection of life 
and the redress of grievances. 

A. few chiefs and Indians who had renounced 
heathenism appointed Toy-a-att, Moses and 
Matthew asa police force to keep order and 
punish the guilty. For a time this plan worked 
smoothly, but after a while Shus-taks, the leading 
heathen chief, rebelled, and told the Indians that 
the policemen had no authority. Then rioting 
and drunkenness became worse than ever. 

The Christian Indians talked about their trouble 
to Mrs. McFarland, whom Dr. Jackson had left 
in charge of the Fort Wrangell school, and she 
advised them to hold a constitutional conven- 
tion. This body met on February 3, 1878, and 
continued in session two days. 

The schoolhouse was packed full. There were 
a great many long speeches, until it began to 
grow dark. Mrs. McFarland had written out 


A Seven Years’ Fight 133 


some laws with which they seemed to be much 
pleased. At five o’clock in the afternoon, she 
proposed that they should adjourn until the next 
morning. She said she would take the rules 
home, and copy them off, ready for their signa- 
ture. The next morning at daybreak, Shus-taks 
came out on the end of the Point, as he always 
did when he had anything to say to the people, 
and there made a great speech, telling them that 
he knew all about what they had been doing the 
day before, and that the teacher was trying to 
make war between him and the other people. 

Later in the day, by invitation, Shus-taks and 
five of his friends came to hear the laws read. 
“I would like to know what you have te do with 
the laws,’ Shus-taks said, when he had heard 
them. “ You were sent here to teach school, 
and nothing more. If you go on as you are now 
doing, you will upset the town, and bring war, 
and all the people will be killed. I suppose you 
think you are safe, but I would advise you to 
send for the soldiers to come back.” 

Then he stamped from the room in a rage, 
followed by his friends, 

The Christians present signed their names to 
four simple agreements. The first declared that 
Toy-a-att, Moses, Matthew and Sam should 
search all canoes and stop the traffic in liquor 
among the Indians, 

The second read: “ We, who profess to be 


134 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Christians, promise with God’s help to strive. as 
much as possible to live at peace with each other 
—to have no fighting, no quarrelling, no tale- 
bearing among us. These things are all sinful, 
and should not exist among Christians,” - 

The third agreement was: “ Any troubles that 
arise among the brethren, between husbands and 
wives, or if any man leaves his wife, these breth- 
ren, Toy-a-att, Moses, Matthew, Aaron and Lot 
—have authority to settle the trouble and decide 
what the punishment shall be.” | 

The fourth agreement declared: “ The au- 
thority of these brethren is binding upon all. 
And no person is to resist or interfere with 
them.” 

Then Toy-a-att made a great speech. After 
telling of the coming of the white man, he said: 

«“ Although I have been a bad Indian, I can 
see the right road and I desire to follow it. I 
have changed for the better. I have done away 
with all Indian superstitious habits. J am in my 
old age becoming civilized. I have learned to 
know Jesus, and I desire to know more of Him. 
I desire education, in order that I may be able 
to read the Holy Bible. 

“Look at Fort Simpson and at Metlakahtla. 
See the Indians there. They were the worst 
Indians on the coast. Now they can read and 
write and are learning to become Christians. 
Those Indians are British Indians, and it must 


A Seven Years’ Fight 135 


have been the wish of the British Queen that 
her Indians should be educated. We have been 
told that the British Government is a powerful 
one, and we have also been told that the Amer- 
ican Government is a more powerful one. We 
have been told that the President of the United 
States has control over all the people, both white 
and Indians. We have been told how he came 
to be one great chief. He purchased the coun- 
try from Russia, and in purchasing it he pur- 
chased us. We had no choice or say in the 
change of masters. The change has been made, 
and we are content. All we ask is justice. 

“ We ask of our father at Washington that we 
be recognized as a people, inasmuch as he recog- 
nizes all other Indians in other portions of the 
United States. We ask that we be civilized, 
Christianized, educated. Give us a chance, and 
we will show to the world that we can become 
peaceable citizens and good Christians. An ef- 
fort has already been made by Christian friends 
to better our condition, and may God bless them 
in their work.” A school has been built here, 
which, ‘notwithstanding opposition by bad white 
men and by Indians, has done a good and great 
work among us. 

“ This is not sufficient. We want our chief at 
Washington to help us. We want him to use 
his influence towards having a church built and 
in having a good man sent to us who will teach 


136 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


us to read the Bible and learn all about Jesus. 
And now, my brethren, to you I appeal. Help 
us in our efforts to do right. If you don’t want 
to come to our church, don’t laugh and make fun 
of us because we sing and pray. If one of us 
should be.led astray from the right path, point 
out to us our error and assist us in trying to re- 
form. If you will all assist us in doing good, 
and quit selling whiskey, we will soon make Fort 
Wrangell a quiet place, and the Stickeen Indians 
will become a happy people. I now thank you 
all for your kind attention. Good-bye.” 

The report of this meeting and the appeal of 
Toy-a-att made Dr. Jackson more than ever de- 
termined to persuade Congress to provide for the 
government of Alaska. He had already begun 
his contest. He was opposed by many who felt 
that Alaska was not worth the attention of the 
government, and by others whose interests were 
advanced by anarchy in Alaska. But he did 
not falter in the fight. 

In January, 1880, he was in Washington, ap- 
pealing to the members of Congress in person 
and by letter for the recognition of the Alaska In- 
dians along with the other wards of the govern- 
ment, and urging the passage of a bill for a ter- 
ritorial form of government. Some encouraged 
him, but others treated him with indifference. 

At the next session of Congress the battle was 
renewed. In 1883 he was busy among the lead- 


A Seven Years’ Fight 137 


ers at Washington. By this time he had influen- 
tial backers; Benjamin Harrison, Joseph Cook, 
and Wendell Phillips were glad to be counted on 
his side. But all effort was vain; Alaska was 
again left out of the nation’s plans. 

In 1884 the battle was renewed. The story 
of the last contest should be read in the original 
entries in Dr. Jackson’s diary: 

“ April 3.—At four o’clock and ten minutes 
p. M., the House of Representatives in Commit- 
tee of the Whole passed the clause in Indian ap- 
propriation bill giving fifteen thousand dollars to 
an industrial Indian school for Alaska. 

“May 8.—Called on Senator Hawley, who 
agreed to amend report of Senate Committee from 
ten thousand dollars to twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars for industrial school in Alaska. 

« May 9.—Sent circular letter to the senators. 
Indian bill came up. Hawley moved amend- 
ment. Plumb of Kansas made violent speech 
against it and a personal attack on myself. 
Senator Conger of Michigan answered him. 

“May 11.—In morning made address on 
Alaska in Sixth Presbyterian Church. 

“ May 13.—House took up and passed bill for 
government in Alaska. Senate resumed the con- 
sideration of Indian appropriation bill and other 
efforts made to kill the Alaska appropriation. 

“ May 15.—Made an address on Alaska at 
Metropolitan Church. 


138 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


«May 160.—Made an address on Alaska at 
Judge Williamson’s. 

« May 17.—The President signed the bill for 
government in Alaska. 

“May 18.—Fifty years old. Made an ad- 
dress on Alaska at Hyattstown.” 

The entries telling of the making of addresses 
on Alaska are important because it was Dr. Jack- 
son’s habit to invite members of Congress to hear 
these. Many of them came, and were convinced 
by his words. 

The act passed by Congress adopted the laws 
of Oregon for the territory of Alaska, and pro- 
vided that a governor should be appointed by the 
President. There were to be a judge, a district 
attorney and a marshal, to set upacourt. Then 
there were four deputies divided between Sitka, 
Wrangell, Juneau, and Unalaska. 

Thus Alaska was put under the reign of law. 
And Sheldon Jackson had done it. But his fight 
was not yet won. 

His appointment as Commissioner of Education 
gave him authority where before he had been 
doing his work on his own responsibility. His 
use of the steamer Sear lent dignity to his prog- 
ress, and made it possible for him to travel to 
Alaska in years when no provision was made by 
the Church for his expenses. But his appoint- 
ment, and the use of the government’s vessel, did 
more; it brought down on him the enmity of 


A Seven Years’ Fight 139 


many who did not favour the enforcement of law, 
or who felt that his activity was an infringement 
on their rights. 

The first United States judge and the first dis- 
trict attorney began the fight against the father 
of the new Alaska soon after their appointment 
in 1884. They did not like to see educational 
funds used for the Indian. When the Russian 
residents at Sitka protested against the mission 
school on the ground that funds were spent there 
which might be used for them, they were en- 
couraged to oppose the enterprise. On the pre- 
tense that the building had been erected on 
ground belonging to them, they were advised to 
apply for an injunction restraining the mission 
authorities from improving the property. The 
United States judge granted the injunction in 
spite of the fact that the school was supported in 
part by the government. Reports of this action 
reached Dr. Jackson in Washington. He asked 
President Cleveland for relief. Before the peti- 
tion was acted on he hastened to the scene of 
conflict. 

Soon after his arrival the first regular term of 
court was opened. The district attorney secured 
from the grand jury five indictments against Dr. 
Jackson, one of which was the grave offense of 
asking for a hearing before the grand jury! 

The judge dismissed this indictment, and set 
aside the injunction against work on the school 


140 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


buildings, but the remaining indictments on 
trumped up charges were placed on the docket 
for trial, One indictment charged him with 
“the crime of unlawfully, illegally, wilfully, ma- 
liciously and with malice, obstructing a certain 
road or highway.” A warrant was issued for the 
“ criminal,’ and he was placed under two thou- 
sand dollar bonds to appear for trial before the 
November session of the court. Dr. Jackson 
obeyed. While out on bail, he planned to make 
a trip to Sitka and beyond, to establish schools 
in Southeastern Alaska. When he went aboard 
the steamer he had an outfit of school supplies, 
including desks and furniture for the school at 
Wrangell, and charts, maps, etc., for the schools 
at Hoonah, Harris, Juneau and Howkan. He 
was not molested while the steamer was being 
loaded, but when the gangplank was about to be 
withdrawn, he was arrested and rudely hustled 
off the steamer, locked in a cell, and denied even 
the comfort of a box upon which to sit down. 
When the steamer had passed out of sight, he 
was taken before the judge and his bail bond in- 
creased to thirty-two hundred dollars. Then he 
was set free. 

But the mischief had been done. The con- 
spirators knew that there would not be another 
steamer to Sitka for a month, and they proposed 
to interfere with Dr. Jackson’s work for at least 
that time. 


A Seven Years’ Fight 141 


Some of the passengers who witnessed the 
indignity reported it to Washington. There 
was a Storm of indignation. President Cleveland 
made an investigation and promptly removed 
the governor, the marshall and the district 
attorney. Soon after the judge also was re- 
moved. The new officials arrived on the 
steamer a month after the arrest. 

At the next session of court the indictments 
charging Dr. Jackson with crime were thrown 
out as unworthy of consideration. 

The disgraced politicians made one more effort. 
At Washington they made a campaign for Dr. 
Jackson’s removal, trying to blacken his char- 
acter. They succeeded in persuading a few 
newspapers to print charges which plainly were 
so false that they were rejected even by those 
who had not sympathized with his work. 

After reading one of these reports Lieutenant 
Bolles of the United States Navy, who had 
known Dr. Jackson when on duty in Alaskan 
waters, made a sworn statement in which he 
said: 

“In the fall of 1884 various members of the 
civil government, both in their actions and their 
conversation with me, showed that there was a 
strong feeling against the mission schools and 
their teachers, not simply against Dr. Jackson, 
but others. One went so far as to say he‘ would 
break them up. 3)" .)/4. 


142 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


“In regard to Dr. Jackson I can say from 
personal knowledge that he is zealous and 
earnest in his efforts for the good of the Indians 
and the educational interests of Alaska, and 
faithful in the discharge of his duties. I have 
found him faithful and honest, in fact an earnest, 
hard-working, faithful Christian man. ‘These vir- 
tues being the antithesis of Alaskan ideas, natu- 
rally have produced bitter foes.” 

Opposition did not end with these incidents. 
But never again were the enemies of Dr. Jack- 
son’s work able to gain a sympathetic hearing 
from those who had power to interfere with him. 


XV 
IN NORTHERN WATERS 


Battling with the breakers—Climbing a prec- 
wpice—A dangerous launching—A myste- 
rious message—kescuers rewarded—Cap- 
sized— Strange requests—Emptying liquor 
into the sea—A veniuresome bride and 
groom—A wonderful cave—An impene- 
trable ice wall—fast to an iceberg. 


‘* WORD of command—a jingle of a 
ya bell—the thump of a propeller—the 
turn of a wheel, and we were off for 

a five months’ cruise in Sundown seas and be- 
yond, among the ice-fields of the frozen North.” 

Thus Dr. Jackson began the account in his 
diary of one of his Arctic voyages. His feelings 
were further indicated by the next paragraph : 

« When, as a boy, I read with eager interest 
the adventures of the whalers and saw rude pic- 
tures of the great underground houses of Kam- 
chatka and the Polar regions, with queer look- 
ing people dressed in furs, and their faces 
tattooed, climbing up and down notched poles 
to and from their homes, I little thought that I 
should ever personally visit those far-away 
strange people, much less that I should be the 

143 | 


144 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


first to establish schools and missions among 
them.” 

One of Dr. Jackson’s first experiences in land- 
ing on the strange shores of Alaska was at 
Garden Cove, on St. George Island. Here the 
ship’s boat was lowered, and five officers, five 
sailors and Mr. Jackson started for the shore. 

Upon approaching the shore the breakers at 
the regular landing place were found to be too 
heavy to make it safe. A mile to the south- 
ward, at the base of high cliffs, the landing 
seemed smooth, and it was attempted. Just as 
the men had almost reached the shore, and were 
congratulating themselves that they had suc- 
ceeded in getting through safely, a great wave 
struck them, staving two holes in the bottom of 
the boat. The way they scrambled over one 
another in the effort to get out of the boat be- 
fore another wave should strike them was most 
ludicrous. 

Leaving the boat in charge of the sailors, the 
officers and Dr. Jackson started for the village. 
The first thing to be done was to scale the bluff, 
which was five hundred feet high. This was a 
difficult operation, in some places only to be 
performed on hands and knees. The climbers 
held on to clumps of grass. Occasionally they 
dislodged stones and dirt that went rolling down 
the precipice, endangering those that were below. 
From time to time, to get breath, Dr, Jackson 


In Northern Waters 145 


would dig the heel of his boot securely into the 
earth, and then lie on his back with closed 
eyes. Whenever he allowed himself to look 
down, or out to sea, his head became dizzy, 
and he had the sickening sensation of being 
about to roll down the precipice. At last he 
reached the top, but was too exhausted to pro- 
ceed to the village. After taking a good rest at 
the top of the hill, he attempted to retrace his 
steps to the boat, but for a long time failed to 
find a point where he could get down the hill. 
At evening, when the officers returned, the 
boat was repaired. Then it was placed on 
wooden rollers made of driftwood, and taken 
down to the edge of the breakers, During the 
afternoon the swell had grown worse, and it was 
a desperate chance if the boat could be launched 
safely. Being a landsman, Dr. Jackson was 
placed in the boat before it left the beach, and 
the others gave him their watches, revolvers, 
coats and spare clothing—to keep them dry. 
The only chance was to launch the boat between 
the breaking of the waves, All would get 
soaked, and some might get drowned. Every 
precaution was taken. The officers and men 
ranged themselves on each side of the boat, wait- 
ing a favourable moment. When the time came, 
at the word of command, they made a wild rush 
into the sea up to their waists, sending the boat 
before them, and then with a spring threw them- 


146 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


selves into it, seized the oars, and pulled away for 
life. In the rush one sailor stumbled and fell 
under the boat, another lost his hold and went 
down with an officer on top of him. Regain- 
ing their feet and blowing the salt water from 
their mouths, they made a successful rush for the 
boat. Two breakers were passed, and all were 
safe. 

One of the objects of the voyage was to carry 
presents from the United States Government to 
the natives near Cape Navarin, Siberia, who had 
sheltered the survivors of a whaling vessel which 
was crushed in the ice in 1885. The wreck 
came so suddenly that the crew of thirty-six had 
barely time to spring into the boats, without pro- 
visions or extra clothing. Half were soon picked 
up by another whaler, but the rest were com- 
pelled to take refuge on a field of ice, where they 
remained for twenty-six days. During this time 
nine died from exposure, and the others kept 
alive by eating raw seal. Finally the nine sur- 
vivors took to the boat and in three days reached 
the coast of Siberia. Five died soon after land- 
ing. The four left alive were cared for by the 
natives all winter, though they were themselves 
in a half-starving condition. The sole survivor, 
whose name was Vincent, was adopted by a 
family which owned a herd of domesticated rein- 
deer, and therefore had more to eat. For more 
than two years he remained with them. Early 


In Northern Waters 147 


in his long stay with these friends, with a knife 
he carved a message on a board, and asked the 
people on the coast to give it to the first vessel 
they saw. On one side was: 


1887. J.B. V. Nap. Tobacco give. 
On the reverse side was : 
S. W.C. Nav.io M. Help Come. 


The piece of wood ultimately reached Captain 
Healy of the Bear. He puzzled over it till he 
read the story: 

“ 1887, J. B. Vincent of the bark Napoleon is 
ten miles southwest of Cape Navarin. Come to 
his rescue. Give the bearer some tobacco for his 
trouble.” 

Captain Healy—who was at Port Clarence 
when the message reached him—lost no time in 
beginning the search. Before long he reached 
the sailor, and then took him home. 

When the Sear reached the spot where Vin- 
cent had been taken aboard, the captain went 
ashore with Dr. Jackson. At once messengers 
were sent in every direction on dog-sleds to 
gather the people together. When all were 
present who could be reached, one thousand dol- 
lars’ worth of clothes, firearms, ammunition, 
traps, pots, pails, tools, provisions, and toys were 
distributed to the grateful men, women and chil- 
dren. 


148° The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Onanother voyage on the Sear, Dr. Jackson— 
instead of taking part in a meeting of congratu- 
lation because of a rescue—witnessed the death 
of an officer and members of the crew. When 
within sight of Mt. St. Elias, an exploring party 
with supplies were attempting to land. One of 
the two boats was capsized in the breakers and 
for a long time there was uncertainty as to the 
fate of the seven occupants. Next morning, 
when it was possible to get ashore, it was learned 
that six men had lost their lives. A second boat 
capsized in the breakers that evening, but the 
men in it suffered no greater inconvenience than 
a night on shore. 

At Cape Thompson Dr. Jackson learned some- 
thing of the varied duties of the captain of a 
United States Revenue Steamer in Alaskan 
waters. Four or five white men from two whal- 
ing stations came to request him to take off their 
hands a sailor who, the season before, deserted 
from one of the whaling ships. During the 
winter he had frozen his feet so badly that they 
had mortified and would need to be amputated. 
Another man wished the captain to collect a 
board bill from a miner whom he had taken in 
at five dollars per month. The debt was col- 
lected, the miner being forced to weigh out gold 
dust to the amount of his bill. Thereupon the 
miner asked to be taken down to civilization. 
The captain consented, on condition that he 


In Northern Waters 149 


would make himself look like a civilized being. 
Then the ship’s physician was sent ashore to ex- 
amine the man with the frozen feet and bring him 
on board. 

At Port Clarence Dr. Jackson watched the 
boarding of the vessels of the whaling fleet by 
officers from the Bear, who were in search of 
liquor. The majority of the captains are op- 
posed to the trading of liquors to the natives for 
furs; but there are some who believe in it, and 
boldly say that if the cutter did not come and 
search them they would engage in the trade, and 
that they do engage in it on the Siberian Coast 
where the Sear has no jurisdiction. Asa result 
of the search, eleven barrels of alcohol and six 
cases of gin were seized upon one schooner and 
emptied into the ocean. One captain, seeing the 
officer coming, emptied a barrel of liquor over 
the side of his vessel, and threw three gallon cans 
after it. The cans floated by the searching of- 
ficer. He evidently thought them empty kero- 
sene cans, for he did not take the trouble to pick 
them up. 

At Point Belcher the captain heard of astrange 
Steamer that had gone north that morning, and 
concluded to follow it. There was ice all about, 
but he pushed his way on. After forcing the 
Bear through the ice for ten miles, he discovered 
the vessel working her way out of the ice. It 
proved to beasmall Japanese steamer from Tokio 


150 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


that had been chartered by an American and his 
wife who were on a bridal tour around the world. 
They had gone to the Arctic to hunt walrus and 
polar bear. Ignorant of their danger, they had 
driven their steamer into ice, thinking they could 
force a way to Point Barrow. Assistance was 
given them, and they were warned to proceed 
southward as rapidly as possible. 

One of the most curious experiences of the 
voyage of 1891 was the visit to a cave on King’s 
Island of which wonderful stories had been told. 
The natives said it was inhabited by three strange 
creatures, and that there was an exit in the roof 
connecting with the top of the island. 

Supplying themselves with lines, candles and 
lanterns, the explorers approached the cleft in 
the face of the cliff, a few hundred feet to the 
east of the village. The water extended in some 
twenty feet from shore to the mouth of the cave, 
but owing to the swell from the sea the boat 
could not enter; so the men hurriedly jumped on 
to the rocks and clambered over the sides to the 
entrance, 

The first obstacle that confronted them was an 
immense cake of ice with a perpendicular face, 
jambed between the two sides of the entrance, each 
of which was equally inaccessible. After mak- 
ing several unsuccessful attempts Dr. Jackson and 
his companions appealed to the guide, who shot 
over the space with the agility of a monkey, and 


In Northern Waters 151 


carried with him the line fastened to the others. 
Even with this assistance, they found considerable 
difficulty in following him. 

They were then in the main chamber of the 
cave. In height it was about thirty or forty feet, 
and twenty-five in width. The floor was uneven 
and fullofholes. Scattered about on the slippery 
surface were strewn the remains of walrus, bones, 
skin and blubber. At the left-hand corner of the 
immense cavern was a hole which could easily 
have been mistaken for an exit to the top of the 
mountain. ‘To reach itseemedimpossible. The 
guide demanded the promise of more pay and 
in addition the pants which Dr. Jackson had 
on before he would go any farther, exclaiming 
with much force, “ King Charlie cowcow pe- 
chuk,” 

The ascent was almost perpendicular. It was 
made by means of a rope which the native visitors 
to the cave had left in a crevice under a large rock. 
At last they stood in the dark entrance of another 
part ofthe cave. Lighting the candles and making 
fast the line, two of the men with the guide de- 
scended througha narrow crack, the floor of which 
was solid ice. To assist in going down, steps 
had been cut out and the dripping of the water 
from above had formed little pinnacles of ice 
which answered as supports for their feet. Soon 
they found themselves in the most beautiful and 
interesting part of the cave. The chamber was 


152 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


pyramidal in shape, the apex extending upward 
fifty feet. Its walls were everywhere covered 
with miniature icicles and moisture, frozen in the 
most fantastic shapes, appearing like a mass of 
diamonds. 

The floor was solid ice. In this had been cut 
holes from ten to fifteen feet in depth and from 
six to ten feet in diameter. As the boots of the 
explorers were of skin and already worn slippery 
from travelling over ice and grease, they had to 
exercise the greatest precautions to escape falling 
into these holes. 

The return was far more difficult and danger- 
ous, but was made without any serious accident. 

The guide explained that the cave was used for 
the storing of walrus which are killed in the winter | 
and are used for food in the summer, though he 
said it was used at one time as a rendezvous in 
time of attack from the natives of the coast, 

On nearly every voyage it was found impossible 
to carry out some of the plans that had been 
made, owing to heavy seas or packed ice, or thick 
and long continued fog. Dr. Jackson learned to 
to be as philosophical under the adverse condi- 
tions as were the officers ofthe Lear. But one ex- 
perience—in the summer of 1896—was unusually 
hard. He had been very anxious to land at 
Point Barrow that he might see the mission there. 
This proved to be the worst season for ice in 
fifty years, After a severe struggle they were in 


In Northern Waters 153 


sight of Point Barrow. On the morning of 
Saturday, August 8, the ship was opposite 
the station where some of the whalers had 
succeeded in getting in and were at anchor. 
But the opening that had let them in had 
closed with ice, which stood a solid impene- 
trable wall to bar any further progress. There 
was nothing to do but to steam back to compara- 
tively open water, and cast anchor. 

On Sunday, the attempt to crush through the 
ice to the station was made a second time, but 
failure was the result. .On Monday the ship was 
again started under steam to repeat the process 
of bumping ice and forcing her way within sight 
of the desired haven, only to be turned back at 
the last. 

For three days more the steamer alternately 
drifted, anchored to icebergs, tried to push through 
the ice, and retreated to safe waters. Finally, on 
Thursday, it was made fast to an iceberg off the 
Point Barrow Refuge Station, and it was possible 
for a number of the men from shore to make 
their way out and climbaboard. They explained 
that the preceding winter had been unusually 
severe. During February the warmest weather 
was thirty-eight degrees below zero, and the 
coldest sixty-six degrees below. The average 
temperature was forty-five below. From Decem- 
ber 20, when the temperature was forty degrees 
below zero, to April 20, when it was thirty-seven 


154 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


below, the cold had been continuous. It was 
May 15 before the thermometer registered as 
high as zero. There was snow on the ground till 
July 19, and the fresh water lakes were frozen 
until August 15. Great heavy icebergs that 
had grounded in front of the village, late in the 
winter, were still anchored to the bottom of the 
sea at the time of Dr. Jackson’s visit. 

This record sounds like the story of an ex- 
pedition to the North Pole. But it is only the 
simple narrative of a missionary’s journey. 


XVI 
THE ROMANCE OF THE REINDEER 


“ Bym-by kill um” —What became of George 
—The starving man’s dilemma—Slaughter- 
mg the seal and the walrus—A_ startling 
proposition — Undiscouraged — Climbing 
over obstacles. 


B: ORE the days of the submarine cable 


from America to Europe the Western 

Union Telegraph Company planned to 
connect America with Asia by telegraph, by way 
of Alaska and Siberia. In 18606 linemen of the 
company were attracted by a party of Alaska 
natives on the mountainside back of their village. 
About forty people of all ages were present. 
They were chatting and laughing as at a picnic. 
On a small level spot had been constructed an 
oblong ring of stones about six feet in length. 
Near by a reindeer had been killed, and a party 
of women were sprinkling the stones with hand- 
fuls of tobacco and choice bits of deer meat. 
Thinking they were making a sacrifice to the 
gods, the workmen asked a native who had 
learned a little English to explain the details. 
But the native said it was to be a human sacrifice. 


155 


156 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Pointing to an old man in the group, he said, 
“ See old man—no got eyes—bym-by kill um.” 
Years later Captain Healy of the Bear was 
inquiring the whereabouts of a native whom he 
had known on a former trip. Meeting another — 
native, he asked, “ Where is George now?” 
« Oh,” was the reply, “I shot him last year.” 
Then the explanation was given that George was 
taken sick, that there seemed no hope for his 
_recovery, and he had been put to death. 
_ Dr. Jackson, hearing of many instances of this 
sort, made inquiries as to the reason for the 
heartless acts. “He learned that when persons 
have an incurable disease, or become too old to be 


“ of further service in procuring the necessaries of 


life, it was a.common practice among the natives 
to put them to death. The conditions of life are 
so hard, the difficulties of feeding the strong are 
so great, that they think it best no useless man 
or woman should be permitted to live. 
~ During a visit to the villages along several 
thousand miles of Arctic and semi-arctic coast, 
Dr. Jackson met thousands of natives, yet he 
saw only one old person. He noted in his diary 
that this almost entire absence of aged persons 
among the population confirms the accounts of 
the custom of killing the aged and infirm. 
Sometimes the children are killed because the 
supply of food is too scanty to care for them. 


~ One of the telegraph party already mentioned 


The Romance of the Reindeer 157 


told of a famine in Alaska when, as early as 
October, people began to boil their deerskin _ 
bedding into soup. Many of the natives sought 
the advice and assistance of the strangers. One 
said: “ You know, sir, the winter has hardly 
commenced. I have a wife and seven children 
and seven dogs to support, and not a pound of 
meat or fish to give them. I havesome deerskins 
and eight fathoms of thong that I can boil up. 
But these are not enough to sustain the family . 
and the dogs too until the Tchuct-chu (steamer) 
comes to trade, and I don’t know where to get 
more, aS my neighours are starving too.” With 
hesitation and a faltering voice he added: “ If ~ 
my children perish I will have my dogs left, but 
if my dogs perish, how can I go to the Tchuct- 
‘chu to get deer? Then my family will starve 
too, and I will have neither family nor dogs.” 
What he wanted was for the American to decide 
whether it was worse for him to let his children 
or his sled dogs starve, for if the latter starved 
it would involve the starvation of the whole. 
family. Of course he was advised to keep both 
as long as possible. 

Occasionally an instance of this destitution or 
starvation came under the eye of an intelligent 
white man and was given to the world, but these 
periodical seasons of starvation came and went, 
and hundreds of human beings starved, their fate 
unheeded and unknown by the world. 


158 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Once there was food sufficient for the Indians 
and the Eskimos, but that day passed long ago. 
Whales, seals and sea-lions were plentiful. Just 
as the great herds of buffalo which roamed the 
plains of. the United States as late as 1870 were 
slaughtered for their pelts, so the whales were 
sacrified for the fat that encased their bodies and 
the bone that hung in their mouths. Soon the 
whales were destroyed or driven from the North 
Pacific. They were then followed into Bering 
Sea, and the slaughter went on. The remnant 
took refuge in the Arctic Ocean, and thither 
the whalers followed. Before many years the 
whales frequented only the inaccessible ice-fields 
that surround the North Pole, and so were no 
longer within the reach of the natives. Thus one 
large source of food supply was cut off. 

Another supply of food was derived from the 
walrus that once swarmed in great numbers in 
those northern seas. But commerce wanted 
more ivory, and the whalers turned their attention 
to hunting the walrus as well as the whale, and 
ten thousand of these were annually destroyed for 
the sake of their tusks. Where, a few years 
before, they were so numerous that their bellow- 
ings were heard above the roar of the waves and 
the grinding and crashing of the ice-fields, in 
1890 Dr. Jackson cruised for weeks without see- 
ing or hearing a single one. The walrus, as a 
source of food supply, had become all but extinct. 


The Romance of the Reindeer 159 


In like manner the seal and sea-lion, once so 
common in Bering Sea, had become so scarce 
that it is with difficulty the natives procure their 
‘skins in quantities sufficient to cover their boats. 
Sea-lion meat has become a luxury. 

Once the natives caught and cured for winter 
use great quantities of salmon, but to some of 
the streams there came the canneries that both 
carried the food out of the country and destroyed 
the future food supply by wasteful methods. 

Wild reindeer used to roam near the Eskimo 
villages, and it was possible to kill them in time 
of need. But the introduction of modern fire- 
arms frightened away these animals to the in- 
accessible regions of the interior. 

The sad result in Alaska was apparent when 
deserted villages and tenantless houses were seen 
on all sides. Villages that once numbered thou- 
sands had been reduced to hundreds by the slow 
process of starvation and extermination. In one 
village a trader reported to Dr. Jackson that the 
death rate was fifteen times the birth rate. 

The Father of Modern Alaska was not content 
to cry out in alarm without suggesting a remedy 
for the conditions that caused the death of many 
hundreds each year, and tempted fathers to kill 
their children, children their parents, and neigh- 
bours the old and decrepit about them. 

He said that of course it was possible for the 
government to feed the natives as the Indians of 


160 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


America are being fed. But this would cost 
millions of dollars annually, even if the food 
supplies could be transported in sufficient quan- 
tities three thousand miles from Seattle, and at 
last the Eskimos would be degraded, pauperized 
and exterminated by a slow process. 

But he was hopeful as he looked across to 
Siberia where natives live under precisely similar 
conditions, yet have no difficulty in supporting 
themselves in comfort, They own large herds of 
reindeer, and from these herds they have abun- 
dant food and clothing. In time of famine, when 
some are in danger of starvation, there is always 
the possibility of the men who own the large 
herds of domestic reindeer hearing of their straits 
and coming totheir relief. “ Then why not make 
the Eskimos of Alaska self-supporting by giving 
them reindeer herds of their own?” was his dar- 
ing thought. 

So he urged that the government, in connec- 
tion with the industrial schools, should introduce 
the tame reindeer of Siberia and teach the young 
men to care for and manage them. In these 
schools it is of no use to teach a pupil to be a 
carpenter, or a shoemaker, or a tinsmith or a 
farmer, for there is no use forthese trades. But if 
they are taught to handle the reindeer, the prob- 
lem of the starving is solved. He said that the 
chief industry taught in the Alaska schools should 
be the reindeer culture. No good argument 


The Romance of the Reindeer 161 


could be presented against this proposal, for the 
conditions of climate and pasturage were just 
what the reindeer required; there was the same 
degree of cold as in Siberia, and the tundra of 
the Arctic are covered with the moss that is 
ideal food for the herds. Nothing remained, 
then, but to go to Siberia and secure enough 
animals to begin the industry. For this, money, 
time and patience only would be necessary. 

In his aniuual report to Washington, after re- 
turning from his tour to Alaska in 1890, Dr. 
Jackson made his proposition, and added: 

« A moderate computation, based upon the 
statistics of Lapland, where similar climatic and 
other conditions exist, shows Northern and Cen- 
tral Alaska capable of supporting over nine mil- 
lion head of reindeer. 

“To reclaim and make valuable vast areas of 
land, otherwise worthless; to introduce large, 
permanent, and wealth-producing industries, 
where none previously existed; to take a bar- 
barian people on the verge of starvation and 
lift them up to a comfortable self-support and 
civilization, is certainly a work of national 
importance.” 

A storm of protest greeted Dr. Jackson’s argue 
ment and suggestion. Many said that it was a 
visionary scheme, as impractical as other sugges- 
tions made by him. But when the objectors 
were challenged to point to any of his schemes 


162 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


which had proven impractical, they were silent. 
Others declared that it was foolish to spend so 
much thought on a few starving Eskimos who 
would be better off out of the world than in it. 
« Better let them die in peace,’ they said. 

In spite of the clamour of the thoughtless, the 
report was approved by the Commissioner of 
Education and was referred to the Secretary of 
the Interior. In the Fifty-first Congress an | 
appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars was 
incorporated in “a bill for the introduction of 
domesticated reindeer into Alaska as an experi- 
ment, in connection with the industrial schools 
of the country.” Dr. Jackson watched the bill, 
and used every effort to push it through, but 
Congress adjourned without action. However, 
he did not give up. Of course he might have 
decided to wait until the next Congress, but 
precious time would be lost; the delay of two 
years might mean the death of hundreds. 

Through the newspapers he made an appeal 
to his friends and the friends of his work, asking 
for funds. He explained his plan so thoroughly 
that their objections were answered. He had 
thought out the whole scheme. He would go to 
Siberia, buy reindeer of the native owners, trans- 
port them to Alaska, and put them in charge of 
the teachers of the various schools. The schools 
would give them over to the care of selected 
young men who would be responsible for the 


The Romance of the Reindeer 163 


herds. The herds would increase year by year ; 
the increase would be given to the natives as the 
nucleus for herds of their own, and the beginning 
of the Eskimos’ safety from starvation would be 
in sight. 

He was told that the superstitious natives of 
Siberia would not part with their reindeer. But 
he insisted that he could persuade them to sell. 
It was objected that he could not transport the 
animals to Alaska, even if he succeeded in buying 
them. Then, convincingly, he told his plans for 
the voyage. He answered every objection made, 
and at last he had his reward. More than two 
thousand dollars were in his hands for the initial 
experiment—a small amount when compared 
with the fifteen thousand asked from Congress, 
yet enough to make a beginning. 

When the announcement was made that the 
money given was to be spent for goods to 
barter with the Siberians, and that the journey 
would soon be undertaken with the approval of 
the Secretary of the Interior, the doubters smiled 
in anticipation of the pleasure of saying, “I told 
you so” when Dr. Jackson should report failure. 

But the little man who had successfully worked 
out more than one big scheme on which doubt- 
ers had tried to throw cold water contented him- 
self with smiling quietly. He knew who would 
be able to say, “I told you so.” 


XVII 
BARGAINING WITH SIBERIAN HERDERS 


Goods for barter—A school of whales—“ Land 
all around” —Mazu for twenty ships—The 
natives and their umiaks—A race—The 
ten policemen, and thetr salaries—The fatl- 
ure of Shoo-fly—The interpreter’s pay 
—Bartering for deer—Tricky natives—A 
wealthy Siberian—A walrus hunt—The 
jirst deer. 


ECAUSE of the small fund available, Dr. 
B Jackson decided that on the trip of 1891 
to Siberia he would not attempt to buy 
many reindeer, but would secure just enough to 
prove that his plans were workable. Then he 
could make arrangements with the owners of 
herds to deliver more animals to him the follow- 
ing year, when he hoped to make his real start 
in herd development. 

The money contributed by his friends was 
carefully spent for such supplies as the natives 
of Siberia would desire, for he knew that all 
trading must be done by barter, as was the case 
in the days of Daniel Boone and Kit Carson. 

As in previous years he was invited to make 

164 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 165. 


use of the U.S.5S. Bear. The captain of the 
Bear had received these instructions from Wash- 
ington : 

“Tf you think advisable, after talking the 
matter over with Sheldon Jackson, you can 
land a small party on the Siberian shore to 
collect reindeer and have them ready for trans- 
portation to St. Lawrence Island on your re- 
turn. 

“This scheme is carried out by the Interior 
Department under direction of Sheldon Jackson, 
you will understand, you only assisting him with 
the work.” 

Before reaching the Siberian coast the voyage 
was full of incident. When near Ougamok Is- 
land in Bering Sea the Aear passed through a 
large school of whales. Fourteen were counted 
blowing’ at one time around the ship; they were 
so near that it seemed as if the ship must strike 
some of them. Myriads of birds darkened the 
surface of the water. Along the north shore of 
Akoutan Island the honeycombed rocks of lava 
formed many beautiful arches and caves, while a 
short distance inland lay open before the party 
the crater of an extinct volcano. 

The morning of July 4 nearly brought a 
tragedy. When every one thought there was 
water on all sides, the lookout who had been 
peering into the fog cried, “ Land all around!” 
Rushing to the deck, Dr. Jackson found that in 


166 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


the fog and through an easterly set of the cur- 
rent, the Azar had drifted to the westward forty- 
five miles in forty-one hours and was in danger 
of running ashore at the southeast cape of St. 
Lawrence Island. Another half-hour of fog would 
have wrecked the ship in those lonely waters. 
Exhausting efforts by all hands saved the vessel 
from disaster. The weary sailors had their re- 
ward later when they were given an extra dinner 
in honour of the day. , 

Next day anchor was cast in the midst of the 
whaling fleet at Port Clarence. The officers of 
twenty ships came aboard as soon as possible to 
see if there was mail for them. In their eager- 
ness they were so nervous that it was necessary 
for each man to examine the large package of 
mail several times ; each succeeding search dis- 
closed letters which had been overlooked previ- 
ously. Even then many of them left in the 
package plainly addressed letters, which were 
later handed to them by others. 

When the 4ear was ready to steam on to Cape 
Prince of Wales, one hundred and seventy natives 
who had come to Port Clarence in their umiaks 
were taken on board, and their eight boats were 
taken in tow. The sea was smooth, and the 
natives had an opportunity to give on deck an 
exhibition of some of their dances, 

It was six o’clock in the evening when anchor 
was thrown overboard at the Cape. The natives 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 167 


were immediately set to work with their umiaks, 
taking ashore eighteen tons of coal, and the 
provision supplies for the mission. This work 
was completed at nine o'clock, The supplies 
were then carried from the beach to the house, 
the Eskimos working busily till two o'clock in 
the morning. 

At one o'clock next afternoon, the whole vil- 
lage was invited off to the ship. The two men 
in charge of the school gave an exhibition of the 
children’s work, in arithmetic, language and 
singing. After this there was a race of twelve 
large umiaks from the ship to the beach and re- 
turn. The first boat received three pailfuls of 
ship biscuit, the second boat two, and the third 
boat one. Later the people were assembled on 
deck, the officers of the ship being in full uni- 
form, and the captain gave them a talk about 
the school and about the necessity of temperate 
habits. At the close of his address he appointed 
ten policemen, whose duty it was to be to assist 
the teachers in preserving order and looking 
after school attendance. The names of the ten 
honoured young men were entered on the ship’s 
log: 


Er-a-he-na, Chief. Kar-tay-ak. 
Kit-mee-suk, Second Chief. Oo-tik-tok. 
Tiong-nok. Kal-a-whak. 
Ter-ed-loo-na. Wi-a-ki-se-ok, 


We-a-ho-na. Ma-an-a, 


168 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


The first chief was promised three sacks of 
flour as salary, while the second chief was prom- 
ised two sacks. The others could look forward 
to one sack each. The ceremony of appoint- 
ment was concluded by the presentation of an 
imposing cap to each of the ten officers, and the 
firing of three rounds of blank shells from the 
Dahlgren howitzer to impress the natives with 
the power of the ship. When the shell struck 
the water miles away, many were the exclama- 
tions of astonishment. 

In the evening the Sear started across the 
strait to Siberia. It had been hoped to take 
along as interpreter a Siberian native called 
Shoo-Fly, who had spent several summers on 
a whale ship, and so knew a little English. He 
had agreed to go with Dr. Jackson, but he failed 
to keep his promise. Other attempts to secure 
help were likewise unsuccessful. The third mate 
of one of the Port Clarence whaling fleet was 
recommended as an admirable man for assisting 
the expedition. The mate was willing, but his 
captain would not release him until the return 
of the ship to San Francisco in the fall. Ar- 
rangements were made to employ him the next 
season to take entire charge of the herd which 
Dr. Jackson hoped to have for him. 

At last an interpreter was secured who seemed 
quite satisfied with these wages promised him 
for two weeks’ services ; 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 





Tier HOW DEGAG SEL Er Meu hes $1.90 
PO Gy Ten OIily in oes ok tesedes 1.61% 
8 half pint cans powder....... 3.00 
nomueces Day lead etch. desc se 1.00 
BOOOUMUS LODACCO, No hecee bat 1.35 
MALOU Oe osu ess ste ceca tees ss a75 
BORMILOAU AA Vea y tc ccsuts thi cas 38% 
10.00 


All accounts were carefully entered in the 
journal kept by Dr. Jackson on the voyage. 
This journal showed that he had expended for 
goods to be given to the Siberian natives instead 
of money a total of $1,242.87. During the season 


these payments were made for deer: 


At Enchowankin-eu-ka, for four deer : 








DGS EI ET ete teddy a5. c0s vabsad os $18.50 
PATTIES toga ves ves'csce teat 6.50 
25.00 
At Katiene, for four deer: 
PT Pee ROE DC Se ves cde s ocind os $18.50 
BORG ALEO NCE a) st iasetaees tess 6.50 
MELCRIAT Aer seuss sa diate ehh ets oe 50 
25.50 
At Ko-nar-ri, for three deer : 
PBL ae Peers ACCT cu aldose $18.50 
PEPE VORVC Ta eG leas addy saved ed 12.00 
BOO". Cartrid GS/s si6.1.. se seccveses 6.50 
t box of navy bread............- 1.90 





170 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


At Senavin Straits for five deer: 





TENT Phas Gee tees od ace seems $13.50 
Tahepcating, Tile ..0y csc vey dee eee 18.50 
ZOO CATITICV CS Lime. , nas taco eye, 6.50 
1 set reloading tools .... 5.2... 3-00 
2\Dox navy: breads... nv. saceey: 1.90 

43-40 


These animals were not bought without a 
great deal of trouble and disappointment. The 
natives were suspicious and unwilling to part 
with their property. But Dr. Jackson was un- 
willing as ever to be daunted by obstacles; he 
was eager to continue the search long after 
others advised him to give up. 

He had been informed that he would find 
“deer men” at East Cape, but when inquiry was 
made the information was given that the herds 
there were very small; if he would go to Cape 
Serdze Karun, one hundred miles further on up 
the Arctic coast, he would find large herds. 
Another informant suggested that a trip to Cape 
Tchaplin, one hundred and fifty miles south, 
might be successful. He determined to go first 
to the latter place. The voyage was made dif- 
ficult by a field of floating ice, through which the 
Bear pushed its way. 

In about twenty hours Dr. Jackson was in con- 
ference with a number of natives. A proposition 
was made to Quarri, the leading man, to take his 
whole herd of one hundred. He declined to 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 171 


sell, pleading as an excuse that he was keeping — 
his herd for a time of need—some season when 
the walrus and the seal would fail; then the peo- 
ple’s only protection from starvation would be 
the reindeer. How could he be expected to part 
with what might prove the salvation of his entire 
village? He offered to make the captain a pres- 
ent of two, but would not sell one animal. Dr. 
Jackson persisted, finally saying that he would be 
satisfied with ten deer. Would he not sell ten 
for the sake of the starving people of Alaska? 
The owner said he would consult his son, and 
hurried away. 

When he did not return, Dr. Jackson went to 
Quarri’s storehouse, whose contents were an indi- 
cation of his wealth; the visitor counted two 
hundred sacks of flour and eighty boxes oftobacco. 
There was also a head of whalebone, worth from 
five hundred to eight hundred dollars. A second 
conference with the owner was as fruitless as the 
first. Perhaps some deer might be sold when the 
animals were driven down to the coast. But if 
Dr. Jackson would go along the shores of Holy 
Cross Bay at the head of Anadyr Gulf he would 
find large numbers, and close to the beach. 
Probably some of these could be bought. Yet 
what good would it do to buy deer? They 
would die on the voyage, and even if they stood 
the trip they would not live long in their new 
home. 


172 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


A man and a boy promised to go to Holy 
Cross Bay as interpreters, but later they tried to 
back out. They said they were afraid to go; if 
no deer should be found on the beach, as prom- 
ised, or if the natives would not sell from their 
herds, or if the bay was full of ice, then the cap- 
tain would be angry and accuse them of lying to 
him. When the captain assured them that he 
would not hold them responsible, they brought 
off their clothes and blankets in a hair seal bag, 
and the voyage was resumed. 

Holy Cross Bay was three hundred miles dis- 
tant, and Dr. Jackson realized that he must there 
solve the problem of finding the reindeer he hoped 
to buy. He had hoped to secure them so near 
to the island where they were to be taken for 
the winter, that no food would be required 
on the journey. Now everything would be dif- 
ferent. 

An inventory of the stores on board revealed 
some ten or twelve pounds of oatmeal in the cap- 
tain’s pantry, about twenty-five pounds in the 
officers’ mess, a few pounds in the engineers’ de- 
partment, and about sixty pounds in the sailors’ 
stores. It was agreed to purchase allthis. Then 
the meal could be mixed with the drinking water 
if the animals were secured. 

As the northern shore of Holy Cross Bay is 
within the Arctic circle, floating ice was looked 
for. Butthere was more ice than was anticipated. 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 173 


One morning, in a fog, ice suddenly appeared 
directly under the bows of the ship, and the heart 
of the officer on deck stood still; he thought he 
was ashore. Carefully and slowly for several 
hours the way was picked through the mass. 
When the bay was reached, floating ice still im- 
peded progress, the night was dark, and there 
was a cold, driving rain-storm. Twice the Bear 
was almost ashore. 

In the morning the natives of a village of six- 
teen tents or yourts were surprised to see what 
was probably the first steamer that had entered 
the waters of the bay. Three or four umiaks full 
of them came off from the beach. They were 
large, healthy—and dirty. Reindeer skins, fur 
garments and walrus ivory were bought from 
them, but little information was secured. 

In the afternoon Dr. Jackson went ashore. 
Diligent inquiries were made for reindeer, and 
two men were found who agreed to sell five each, 
but their deer were on the west side of the bay, 
which could not be reached till the ice should 
move, and the ice would not move till the wind 
changed. 

While waiting for the wind to change a school 
of fifty walrus appeared near the ship. A boat 
was lowered, and several were killed and taken 
on board. The natives assisted in the capture, 
and were delighted with the gift of meat. Asa 
sign of their thanksgiving for an increased food 


174. The Alaskan Pathfinder 


supply, they danced on the deck until late in the 
evening. 

Finally the wind changed, the ice moved, and 
progress to the west side of the bay was possible. 
When no natives came to the ship, Dr. Jackson 
went ashore through a field of floating ice, and 
walked five miles across the country to a couple 
of native tents. There he found only women 
and children, who explained that the men had 
gone to the ship. The two parties had missed 
each other on the way. 

Hastening back to the Bear, he found two 
umiak loads of natives. One of them—Lingahuri- 
gan—would not agree to sell any deer at once, 
but was quite willing to promise for the next 


year twenty-five animals, at the rate of five fora — 


rifle and twenty for a whale-boat. He prom- 
ised, too, that he would instruct others, who 
would be able to increase the herd to two hun- 
dred. 

At Cape Blosson, Kotzebue Sound, in the 
Arctic Ocean, twelve umiaks brought about three 
hundred natives to the ship. An active trade in 
skins followed, black and brown bear, white and 
red fox, lynx, otter, and mink being exchanged 
for flour, powder, caps, lead and muslin drill, 
But no reindeer could be secured. 

Other attempts were made at various places, 
but it was not till August 28, after cruising for 
several thousand miles, that the first deer was 


——— 


Bargaining With Siberian Herders 175 


hoisted on board. Jubilantly Dr. Jackson made 
the entry in his diary : 

“ Thus it has been proved by actual experience 
that deer can be purchased alive.” 

Later fifteen deer were secured. Moss was 
bought from the natives that the deer might not 
be deprived of their accustomed food. Prophecies 
of failure were answered when for three weeks 
the sixteen animals were kept alive and in health 
on the moss and oatmeal water. 

When these were safely landed on an island in 
the harbour of Unalaska, Dr. Jackson thankfully 
turned southward. The next season he proposed 
to return to Siberia and gather his herd. The 
experience gained during the trial trip would 
stand him in good stead when large funds should 
enable him to go ahead in earnest. 


XVIII 


SUCCESS IN SPITE OF DIFFICULTIES 


Disappointed again—The Teller Reindeer 
Station—Landing the deer—A week in 
the we pack—A race with the wce—Dificult 
natives—The first trained deer—Apprentice 
herdsmen— The most remarkable journey 
ever made by reindeer’’—Rescuing im- 
perilled seamen—The first Reindeer Post 
Route—The varied uses of the reindeer. 


N his return from Siberia, Dr. Jackson 

() reported his success to the Department 

of the Interior, and was given assurance 

that a government appropriation certainly would 
be forthcoming for the next season’s work. 

In the winter a bill was introduced in the 
Senate appropriating fifteen thousand dollars “ to 
be expended under the direction of the Secretary 
of the Interior, for the purpose of introducing 
and maintaining in the territory of Alaska rein- 
deer for domestic purposes.” This bill passed 
the Senate, but it failed to pass the house, so Dr. 
Jackson was compelled to continue the work in 
dependence. on the public. But he was not dis- 
couraged. He was confident that the eyes of the 
lawmakers would be opened before long. Inthe . 
meantime he proposed to do his best to show the 

176 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 177 


_ practicability of his plan, and the absolute 
necessity of stocking the barren coast of Alaska 
with reindeer. 

Accordingly, on April 28, 1892, he again sailed 
from San Francisco on the Sear. On June I 
the steamer anchored at St. Paul Island, where 
he bought a whale-boat rescued from the wreck 
of a whaler, which he knew he would need in the 
transportation of reindeer from the shore to the 
ship. At Unalaska he visited the reindeer which 
had been bought the year before, and found that 
they had passed the winter well. Several fawns 
had been added to the herd. 

At St. Lawrence Island there was a stop while 
the ship’s carpenter made some repairs at the 
mission station. Dr. Jackson learned that the 
man in charge of the erection of the schoolhouse 
and teacher’s residence the previous summer had 
left a large number of orders for navy bread with 
natives who had helped in the work. These 
were redeemed by the distribution of three boxes 
of bread. An account of a different nature was 
to be settled with Chief Iurrison, who had per- 
suaded the carpenter to build for him a small 
house from lumber left after the construction of 
the school. A note had been left for Dr. Jackson 
that the chief was to pay three hundred dollars 
in whalebone and ivory. The first instalment of 
this debt was collected, and more was promised 
the following year. 


178 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


At Port Clarence a site was selected for the 
Reindeer Station, to which deer were to be 
brought and from which they would be distrib- 
uted to the different mission stations. The 
United States flag was immediately hoisted on a 
signal pole. Until buildings could be erected, 
two tents were put up to afford shelter for the 
supplies that were to be left behind. 

The work of building was begun at once, in 
order that quarters might be ready for the 
animals to be purchased that season, and that 
there might be a suitable place for the instruction 
of the men who were to be sent out in charge of 
the deer. 

The carpenters of the Lear and their assistants 
succeeded in finishing the buildings promptly, 
and the station was then completed by the con- 
struction of two “ dugouts,” in which the super- 
intendent and his assistants would take refuge 
during the severe winter weather. The final 
touch was given to the cluster of buildings by 
christening the whole the “Teller Reindeer 
Station.” 

During the summer five trips were made from 
Port Clarence to Siberia and return. On the 
first trip fifty-three reindeer were bought and four 
native herders were secured. On July 3 the 
Bear was back at Teller Station, but the surf was 
too heavy to allow the safe landing of the deer. 

The delay made possible a fitting celebration 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 179 


of the Fourth of July by the landing on that day 
of the first herd of domesticated reindeer in 
Alaska and on the continent of America. The 
deer, each with the four feet tied together, were 
taken aboard a launch and carried ashore in 
litters. They were then untied, hobbled and 
turned loose. Three ran away and took to the 
hills; the herders recovered them after a long 
chase. 

On the second trip the ice proved a great 
hindrance, fog was encountered, two anchors 
were broken, and natives visited were unwilling 
to dispose of deer. Finally, however, sixteen 
animals were bought and transported. 

On one of the later trips that same season, the 
Bear encountered so much ice that it was re- 
markable the reindeer-seeker survived to tell the 
experience. For days the vessel was fastened 
amid the floes. Finally there was a chance to 
move slowly. Most of one day was spent in 
shifting anchor and dodging the ice floes. At 
noon the ice became so dense that further prog- 
ress was impossible, so the ship was fastened to 
a floe with a grapnel. In the evening attempt 
was made to force a way through the ice, but at 
midnight the attempt was givenup, At times 
the ship was prevented from being pushed ashore 
by the ice only by constant ramming of the ice 
seaward. 

From midnight to noon the next day the ship 


180 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


was drifting in heavy and closely packed ice, the 
engine starting and stopping at intervals. Soon 
after noon the ice becoming too heavy for further 
progress, the engine was stopped and the vessel 
drifted. An hour later the ice seemed to open a 
little to the eastward, and an effort was made to 
go in that direction. At midnight clear water 
was reached, and a little later the Bear came to 
anchor off the village of Uttan, Siberia. 

On July 21 a boat was sent ashore after a 
noted deer man. When he came on board, it 
was iearned that his herd was three or four days’ 
journey distant, and that he was willing to sell 
only four or five animals. 

As a large ice floe was seen bearing down upon 
the vessel, and as the captain did not relish the 
idea of being imprisoned another week and per- 
haps wrecked in the bay, he left the village at full 
speed. For hours there was an exciting race 
with the ice, which was a solid, unbroken field as 
far as the eye could reach. The ice was rapidly 
gaining upon the fugitives; large detached pieces 
—like scouts—were forging ahead of the Bear 
and placing themselves directly in her path. 
Against these she rammed and jarred. But at 
length the projecting cape of the bay was reached 
and passed just as the ice floe was swinging on 
it; as the cape barred the progress of the pursu- 
ing ice, the vessel was safe. 

During the afternoon the fog was so dense 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 181 


that the passage of Bering Straits was made before 
any one knew it. When the fog lifted a little the 
captain found he was twenty miles ahead of the 
place he supposed he was. At 10:20 Pp. mM. the 
vessel came to anchor off the Reindeer Station. 

A fair sample of difficulties in dealing with the 
natives was the experience of August 6, when 
the Sear anchored near a village in Holy Cross 
Bay. Five umiak loads of people came aboard. 
Inquiries were at once made for reindeer. At 
first the Siberians said the deer were near; then 
they said they were far off. Again they said that 
they had been on the coast earlier in the summer, 
but when the ship did not come, the herders had 
driven them back into the country because the 
mosquitoes were too bad. At one time they 
offered to sell a ship load. When they thought 
bucks were wanted, they had only roes to sell, 
and when they found roes were desired, their 
herd proved to be all bucks. Then they asked 
two prices for what they proposed tosell. They 
declared that they would lose the increase of the 
herd if they should sell, while the cartridges for 
which they traded would be used up, and they 
would have nothing. 


Captain Healy of the Bear then argued that if 


their deer should die the next year they would 
have nothing and would starve, while if they had 
cartridges they could shoot walrus and seal and 
live. Or, for what they would receive for their 


) 


182 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


deer, they could trade with natives further back, 
and get two deer for one. Finally, after five 
hours’ talk, the boat was lowered. At midnight 
Monday the launch returned with sixteen deer. 
The sailors had been nearly sixteen hours pulling 
against the sea and storm to reach theship. One 
of the deer died next day, another had to be 
killed, and two or three others were crippled, 
probably as the result of being tied and kept so 
long on the launch. 

In spite of adverse circumstances, one hundred 
and seventy-one deer were landed at Port Clarence 
during the summer. 

During the winter following the superintendent 
of the herd left at Teller Station trained twelve 
deer to draw sleds. With two teams selected 
from the twelve he made a satisfactory journey 
to Cape Prince of Wales, sixty miles distant, and 
return. As he was anxious to disprove the fears 
of some doubters that Eskimo dogs would molest 
the reindeer, he was careful to picket the deer 
at night in the neighbourhood of villages, in 
which there were from one hundred to three 
hundred dogs. Not once was an attack made 
on them. 

In March, 1893, Congress appropriated six 
thousand dollars for the purchase of further rein- 
deer. The sum was to be given for expenditure 
by Dr. Jackson as Commissioner of Education 
for Alaska, 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 183 


When he returned to Teller Station he was 
grateful to find that the herd had increased to 
two hundred and twenty-three animals, in spite 
of the death of twenty-seven. During the sum- 
mer further purchases were made, and the herd 
increased rapidly. , 

In August, 1894, the next step was taken. 
One hundred and nineteen head were taken from 
the herd and put in charge of the missionary at 
Cape Prince of Wales, with the understanding 
that he was to look after the increase and train 
men to take charge of them. 

This was the first of many divisions of the 
herd. Every missionary who received them was 
required to enter into a contract. It was agreed 
that the government would furnish one hundred 
or more reindeer as a loan, subject to recall if 
the conditions of the loan were not complied 
with, for the term of five years. In return for 
this favour, the mission was required to feed, 
clothe and care for the native apprentices dur- 
ing this period, and at its close return the original 
number of reindeer loaned them. Of the in- 
crease year by year at least eighty per cent. be- 
came the property of the mission. In some cases 
twenty per cent. of the net increase was given to 
the instructors. It was found to be good policy, 
also, to give to each apprentice the increase of a 
certain part of the herd which had been assigned 
to him, so that at the conclusion of his term of 


184 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


service he might have fifty or more deer to 
brand as his own. In all the arrangements which 
were made from time to time with respect to the 
distribution of the several herds, it was the set- 
tled policy of the government to give an in- 
creasingly large percentage of fawns to the na- 
tives as they became more proficient and skillful 
in handling the animals entrusted to their care. 

In 1905 the government still owned thirty per 
cent. of the reindeer in Alaska; the mission sta- 
tions owned twenty-one per cent. ; the Lapps, who 
had been brought to Alaska to act us herders, 
owned eleven per cent.; while the natives had 
acquired thirty-eight per cent. 

In 1902, when the last reindeer were imported, 
thirty animals were added to the herds. Then 
the Russian Government forbade further exporta- 
tion. Upto this time twelve hundred and eighty 
deer had been taken into Alaska. 

Soon Dr. Jackson’s experiment was declared a 
decided success. It had been found that reindeer 
could be depended on to travel swiftly over long 
distances, drawing heavy loads; and also to se- 
cure food above ground and under the snow, over 
a vast extent of territory, north of the agricul- 
tural belt of Alaska. 

For long journeys a reindeer team is far su- 
perior to a dog team, as the latter cannot haul 
sufficient provisions through an_ uninhabited 
country to feed themselves. A broken reindeer 


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Success in Spite of Difficulties 185 


can drag two hundred pounds on a sled through 
country of all kinds, and instead of eating food 
carried on the sledges he will browse on the moss 
or lichen for which he digs deep in the snow. 

The first practical test of the endurance of 
reindeer in Alaska, and their adaptability to 
winter travel, was made in the winter of 1896-97, 
under the direction of the superintendent of the 
station at Teller. Starting from this station on 
December 10, with nine sleds and seventeen head 
of reindeer, he travelled southward to a sta- 
tion on the Kuskokwim River, about a thousand 
miles distant. His trip was described in a gov- 
ernment document. The course, while travelled 
by compass, was a zigzag one over unbeaten 
tracks, in order to better learn the extent and 
abundance of moss pasturage. Scaling high 
mountain ranges, shooting down precipitous de- 
clivities with toboggan speed, plodding through 
valleys filled with deeply-drifted snow, labori- 
ously cutting a way through the man-high un- 
derbrush in the forest, or steering across the 
trackless tundra, never before trodden by the foot 
of white men; gliding over the hard-crusted 
snow, or wading through slush two feet deep, on 
imperfectly frozen rivers, unknown to geogra- 
phers, were the experiences of the trip. 

It is said that the journey was the most re- 
markable ever made by reindeer. One day there 
came an Arctic blizzard, against which neither 


186 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


man nor beast could stand upright. The rein- 
deer were blown down—one was literally swept 
off the mountainside,-the loaded sleds were 
overturned, and the men, throwing themselves 
flat between the rocks, clung to their handles and 
to one another, to keep from being blown away. 
About a week after this extraordinary experience, 
the party encountered a succession of blinding 
snow-storms and were reduced to such Straits 
that they were obliged to cut the railing from 
their sleds for fuel. When the last of these 
storms had passed away, the temperature fell to 
_ seventy-three degrees below zero, causing even 
the reindeer to break loose from their tethers and 
tramp ceaselessly around the tents for warmth. 
Near the close of the journey there was one long 
stretch where, contrary to information, no moss 
was found. Hence, it was necessary to push on 
continuously for four days and three nights, 
without a morsel of food for the deer until a 
wooded tract was reached, where trees were cut 
down that the deer might feed on the black moss 
which hung from them. On this terrible march, 
five of the deer fell dead or helpless in their 
traces. 

The return journey was made to Teller without 
serious adventure. 

Thus a round trip of two thousand miles on 
sledges, the longest on record, was made over an 
unmarked and unknown route, in the worst and 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 187 


most inclement season of the year. Withabetter 
knowledge of the route some of these dreadful 
experiences might have been avoided, but the 
experiment served its purpose in proving the 
capabilities of the deer for making such a jour- 
ney, in case of necessity. 

In October, 1897, word was sent to Washing- 
ton that three hundred seamen on board of eight 
ice-bound whaling ships were in danger of perish- 
ing from hunger at Point Barrow. President 
McKinley called a special session of the cabinet 
and invited Dr. Jackson to attend and suggest 
plans for relief. The missionary proposed that 
the Sear be sent to some port on the coast of 
Bering Sea within reach of the reindeer herds, 
and that a relief party be sent overland with dogs 
and reindeer, driving a herd before them to be 
slaughtered for food at the end of the journey. 

The suggestion was adopted. On November 
29 the Sear left Port Townsend, Washington. 
It was found impossible to sail within eight hun- 
dred miles of Point Barrow. Deer and dogs 
were secured, and the overland journey was 
begun on December 18. After a trying trip 
of more than three months the starving whalers 
were reached and just in time. More than two 
hundred reindeer were slaughtered for food, and 
the men were in good condition when the ear 
arrived several months later. 

To-day a large herd of reindeer is maintained 


188 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


at the Relief Station at Point Barrow, in order 
that a second expedition like this will be un- 
necessary. 

Perhaps the most important work done by the 
reindeer is on the post route. In 1899 Dr. Jack- 
son secured the establishment of the first Rein- 
deer Post Route in the United States, from 
St. Michaels, on the coast of Bering Sea, to 
Kotzebue, within the Arctic circle. Three round 
trips of more than twelve hundred miles each 
were to be made every winter. Other routes 
have since been added. It was a natural de- 
velopment to arrange for the transportation of 
freight and passengers. A chain of reindeer:sta- 
tions, about one hundred miles apart, on many 
of the important lines of travel on the coast and 
in the interior make possible reliable and speedy 
transport. One writer who knows the country 
declares that eventually fifty thousand teams will 
be needed by the people; he says the nature of 
the country is such that in many sections no 
other known means of transportation can dis- 
place them. 

The captain of the United States Revenue 
Cutter Corvwzx reported to Congress his idea of 
the natives’ debt to Dr. Jackson, when he said: 

« The reindeer furnish their owners with food, 
clothing, and shelter, and nearly all the neces- 
saries of life. The flesh, blood, and entrails are 
eaten. The skin makes the garments, beds, and 


Success in Spite of Difficulties 189 


tents. The skin of the leg, which is covered 
with fine short hair, makes the boots. From the 
antlers are made many of their implements, 
drill bows for lighting fires, knife handles, etc. 
The sinews of the deer make the native thread, 
and a most excellent thread it is. The bones, 
soaked in oil, are burned for fuel, and in addition 
to all this the deer furnishes his master with the 
means of transportation and indeed to a large 
extent assists in forming the character of the 
man.” 

In 1912 there were thirty-three thousand rein- 
deer in the country. To import the beginning 
of the herds cost the government only about 
two hundred thousand dollars, The cost to 
Dr. Jackson was far greater: his expenditure of 
toil and privation cannot be calculated. 

But he made good on his plan, and the Eski 
mos were saved from extinction. 


XIX 
TO THE RESCUE 


A hasty summons—Starving miners—A fly- 
ing gourney—Three thousand miles tn the 
snow—Six hasty marriages— Twelve hardy 
mail carriers—Loading the ship—A nine 
days storm—An uncomfortable stateroom— 
A mussion completed—How the reindeer 
were used, 


travel from fifteen thousand to eighteen 

thousand miles a year in the performance 
of his varied duties. But in 1897 he found it 
necessary practically to double this record. 

In December, 1897, he was at his home in 
Washington, looking forward to a quiet winter 
with his family while he performed his routine 
duties, and prepared for the next season’s cam- 
paign, when he was requested by the Secretary 
of War to start for Lapland on a mission forthe 
government as soon as he could do so. 

The occasion for the hasty summons was the 
action of Congress in appropriating two hundred 
thousand dollars for an expedition to go to the 
relief of a large number of miners far in the in- 
terior of Alaska, on the Yukon River. Word 

Igo 


|: was a common thing for Dr. Jackson to 


To the Rescue 191 


had been received in Washington that these men 
were in danger of starvation because of a short- 
age of provisions, and the impossibility of their 
receiving supplies untilsummer. Dr. Jackson’s 
demonstration of the practicability of transport- 
ing reindeer to Alaska and their usefulness in 
making long journeys through a barren land in 
the dead of winter led Congress to decide that 
the best way to relieve the miners would be to 
procure reindeer broken to harness from far- 
away Lapland, transport these to Alaska, and 
push on by their aid to the marooned men. It 
was felt that Dr. Jackson’s experience in the 
purchase of reindeer in Siberia fitted him to head 
the purchasing expedition, 

Accordingly, on December 23, 1897, he took 
the train for New York, where he was to join 
Lieutenant Devore, of the United States army, 
who was to accompany him as disbursing officer. 
In Lapland he was to meet Mr. Kjellman, super- 
intendent of the reindeer herd in Alaska, who 
was already in Lapland arranging for the em- 
ployment of additional Lapp herdsmen. 

Instructions were sent by cable to Mr. Kjell- 
man to send out agents to buy reindeer and sup- 
plies that the work of Dr. Jackson might be com- 
pleted as speedily as possible after his arrival in 
Lapland. It was believed that many lives were 
in the balance, and that not a day was to be 
lost. 


192 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


Dr. Jackson’s modesty was shown at the be- 
ginning of the voyage to Liverpool when he re- 
joiced that he was unknown on the vessel, and 
that there was consequently no one to ask him 
questions .concerning Alaska missions or Klon- 
dike gold-fields. “Itis a welcome change from 
the unceasing drive of the last few months,’ he 
wrote in his diary. But he was not as unknown 
as he thought. Two days later he was asked to 
make an address in the cabin on the Klondike 
and Yukon gold-fields! 

Leaving in London his travelling companion— 
who was to arrange for a steamship for the trans- 
portation of the reindeer to America—he hastened 
to Bosekop, Northern Lapland. To his disap- 
pointment he was compelled to travel by night | 
from London. As the journey from Liverpool 
also had been made after dark, he saw nothing of 
rural England, but “lines of street lamps seen a 
long distance away, and occasionally a lighted 
manufactory on the horizon gave the impression 
of flatness.” Even London was almost as unsatis- 
factory. He reached the city Friday night and 
left Monday night. During Saturday and Mon- 
day he was so busy arranging matters connected 
with his mission that sightseeing was out of the 
question. He did have about ten minutes for 
St. Paul’s Cathedral! He caught glimpses of 
other famous buildings. And this was his first— 
and last—trip to Europe! He was so busy in 


To the Rescue 193 


the travel that opened and developed the West 
and Alaska that there was no time for mere 
pleasure trips. 

On Friday, January 7, he was in Norway. 
The night was clear and the moon was full, so 
the ride through the snow-clad mountains was 
too attractive to admit of sleep. Early the fol- 
lowing Wednesday he was in Hammerfest, the 
most northern city in the world. As the sun is 
not seen there between November 18 and Jan- 
uary 23, he arrived in the midst of the Arctic 
night. Having a few hours to himself before the 
steamer left for his final destination, he went out 
to view the city by electric light. Everywhere 
the children, just dismissed from school, were out 
on their sleds. 

Two days after his arrival at Bosekop, Mr. 
Kjellman succeeded in reaching him, having been 
delayed two days on the mountains, where he 
was lost in a blizzard, and rode two nights with- 
out sleep. He reported that trained reindeer 
with sleds, harness and drivers had been secured 
and would soon be ready for shipment. 

The animals had been purchased by seven 
agents who had travelled a total of three thousand 
miles in search of them. The journey was made 
at the most trying season, when snow-drifts were 
deep and storms were almost constant. Prog- 
ress was made possible only by the use of rein: 
deer sledges. 


194 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


When all the agents had made their report, it 
was found that there were five hundred and 
thirty-eight reindeer, four hundred and eighteen 
sleds, five hundred and eleven sets of harness, and 
sixty-eight Lapp drivers. Many of the drivers 
were accompanied by their families, so that the 
company numbered one hundred and fifteen peo- 
ple. Six of the Lapps had married in haste and 
were planning to make the voyage their wedding 
journey. | 

Among the Lapps were eleven veterans of the 
various reindeer post routes. A twelfth had for 
eight years carried the mail on skis to North Cape, 
Norway—the northernmost mail route in the 
world. One of the reindeer mail carriers had 
crossed Greenland with Nansen. 

The story of the loading of the ship and of the 
tempestuous voyage that followed should be read 
as it is givenin the diary of the trip kept by Dr. 
Jackson: 

«Thursday, February 3—Had coffee served 
at6 a.m. At 6:30 was at the wharf overseeing 
the men who were in charge of sending the rein- 
deer, moss, etc., from the shore to the ship. 
During the day the cold increased to two de- 
grees below zero. By ten o’clock all the deer 
had been sent offto the ship. But there was a 
herd of one hundred and forty that was to have 
been in from the mountains early in the morning 
that did not arrive till noon. Extra men were 


To the Rescue 195 


sent out to assist in lassoing them. As fast as 
they were brought in their horns were sawed off 
and they were rushed aboard the ship. The 
drivers and their families were then directed to 
go aboard. They refused unless an inventory 
was first taken of all their clothes, bedding, etc. 
As this would have taken all night and part of 
the next day, we refused, but insisted that they 
should go aboard and take the inventory after we 
started. When they still refused, the chief of 
police was called in. He told them they must 
either go aboard according to the contract they 
had signed, or go to jail. 

“ About 3 p. M. [ had an attack of rheumatism 
in my knees, so that going down-hill was torture. 
At nine o'clock I could not walk to the wharf, 
but had to hire a sled to take me down. 

“On shipboard I found my berth wet from the 
condensation of steam against the port glass. It 
was cold also, and I did not get warm and asleep 
all night. 

“ Saturday, February 5—-This morning two 
inches of snow fell, which was carefully gathered 
in pails by the Lapps and carried tothe deer. A 
man is made responsible for the feeding and care 
of the deer in acertain pen. Another man isa 
kind of ‘section boss,’ having charge of a num- 
ber of men who have charge of pens. 

«Monday, February 7.—The odour from the 
deer has been very strong in my stateroom. The 


196 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


whole hurricane deck aft of the bridge and smoke- 
stack is taken up with pens for the deer. Some 
of the seasick Lapps lay out on deck all night, in 
the storm, 

« Wednesday, February 9.—Had a very rough 
night. The sea broke up a two-inch plank parti- 
tion on the hurricane deck, washing in on the 
deer so badly that those in three compartments 
were removed farther aft. 

« Saturday, February 12.--It is still storming. 
Showers of hail and snow accompanied with 
high winds continue to rage. In my stateroom 
the water swashes back and forth on the floor, 
In the centre of the room a temporary floor 
raised about two inches above the regular floor 
has been put in to keep my feet dry. Over my 
head on the hurricane deck are some deer pens 
from which water percolates and drops from the 
ceiling, until there isn’t a dry spot for dressing. 
My mattress is wet from the condensation of 
breath on the cold walls of the room. 

«The old ship behaves beautifully in a storm, 
but is wet and dirty and uncomfortable. This is 
the fifth day of the storm. 


“ Tuesday, February 15.—During the night. 


the gale turned into a hurricane, and at six 
o'clock great seas were sweeping over the deck. 
The captain and officers claim they never en- 
countered such a storm. Hatches that had 
previously been left open were closed and sky- 


ipa 


To the Rescue 197 


lights covered. The lurching of the vessel was 
so great that the steward was able to give us but 
little breakfast. The captain took his on the 
bridge. The danger of being swept overboard 
was so great that none of the herders were al- 
lowed on deck, and the deer on the hurricane 
deck,—drenched in salt water as wave after wave 
broke over them—were left without anything 
to eat all day. 

“In the morning the figurehead of the ship 
was wrenched off and swept astern. A sailor 
was thrown down a hatchway and lay uncon- 
scious. Between four and five in the afternoon 
the storm suddenly abated, and men were sent 
out to feed the hungry deer.” 

At ‘last the nine days’ storm was over, and 
the remainder of the voyage was comparatively 
pleasant. 

Dr. Jackson might have avoided the discom- 
forts of this voyage by returning to New York 
on an express steamer from Liverpool, leaving 
the’care of the reindeer and the Lapps to his as- 
sociates. But it did not occur to him to spare 
himself in this way. His one thought was to do 
the work that had been committed to him. The 
hardships he encountered in the course of doing 
his duty seemed small when he thought of the 
starving men in far-away Alaska for whose sake 
he had made the voyage. 

The broken vessel with its strange cargo at- 


198 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


tracted much attention at New York. The fig- 
urehead was gone, some of the boats were stove 
in, and there were many other evidences of the 
stormy passage. But the reindeer were safe, 
One only had died from wounds received while 
fighting in the pen in which it was confined. 

When Dr. Jackson reached New York, his 
service for the War Department was at an end. 
He returned to Washington, while the reindeer 
and the Laplanders were hurried to Seattle, and 
from there were shipped to Alaska. 

Fortunately word was received from the miners 
who had been reported in a starving condition 
that they would be able to care for themselves 
till spring, so it was decided to take the deer to 
the Yukon Valley for freighting services. 

On March 10—nine days after he reached 
Washington—Dr. Jackson was instructed by the 
Secretary of the Interior to hasten to Alaska, 
there to take charge of the reindeer, and ar- 
range for their distribution according to the 
plans of the Department. Owing to a delay of 
nine days in shipping the herd from Seattle—a 
delay for which he was in no way responsible— 
there was not enough moss for fodder to last the 
deer until they reached the moss pastures at the 
head of the Chilcat Valley, sixty miles from the 
landing place. Food substituted proved insuffi- 
cient, and three hundred and sixty-two animals 
died along the road. 


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To the Rescue 199 


Dr. Jackson’s work in connection with the ex- 
pedition was not ended when he reached Wash- 
ington after turning over the reindeer at the 
Eaton Reindeer Station. The Secretary of War 
soon asked him to return to Alaska to represent 
the Department in paying and caring for the 
Laplanders who had been brought on with the 
reindeer, 

This trip was not made for several months, 
and he had an opportunity to catch his breath 
after the strenuous exertions of eleven months 
from June, 1897, to May, 1898, during which he 
had twice visited Alaska, and twice had been 
within the Arctic circle, once in America and 
once in Europe. This was probably the busiest 
year of his busy life. 


XX 


‘¢THE LITTLE MISSIONARY DELEGATE 
FROM ALASKA” 


What happened between trips—Why Sheldon 
Jackson was short—Forty years of proneer- 
ing—A man of Paul's size— The rough, 
herow figure of the century’’—Off again 
Jor Alaska. 


N 1897 the United States Government 

added to its recognition of the value of 

Dr. Jackson’s services the appointment as 
special investigator of the agricultural possibili- 
ties of the Yukon Valley. He was on his way 
to Alaska for the purpose of this investigation 
and to make his annual tour of the mission 
stations when he paused at Winona Lake, Indi- 
ana, to attend the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church to which he was a com- 
missioner from the Presbytery of Alaska. 

There a grateful church paid him the greatest 
honour in her power to confer by choosing him 
as the presiding officer. There were other candi- 
dates for the office of Moderator, and many 
thought that “ the little missionary delegate from 
Alaska” would not receive many votes. But 
the nominating speech made by George L. 

200 


“The Little Missionary Delegate” 201 


Spining, D. D., changed the minds of scores 
who had planned to vote for one of the other 
candidates. In this speech he said: 

« J venture to say that no man in this assembly 
has done more to win this land for Christ than 
Sheldon Jackson—little Sheldon Jackson. True, 
he is diminutive in stature, but I think it is evi- 
dent that Providence cut him off short that he 
might fit the Indian ponies which were to carry 
him over thousands of miles of mountain trails, 
that he might be able to sleep in barrels, buck- 
boards, stage-boots, kyacks and hollow logs, in 
his ‘journeyings often’ over the great moun- 
tains, plains and waters of the West; that he 
might accommodate himself to the narrow quar- 
ters of the cabin of the miner, the mud hut of 
the Mexican, the hovel of the Alaskan, the 
tepee of the Indian, and the scant accommoda-, 
tions of the prison cell—all of which’ he has 
done in planting the standard of the cross over 
that western country. 

“ Forty years ago, when many of us were in 
our cradles, he crossed the frontier of the Mis- 
sissippi as a trusted standard-bearer of the cross, 
and from that time to this he has been charged 
with the responsibility of laying the foundations 
of a colossal church in Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota, 
Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New 
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and far-off Alaska. He 
has been one of that noble band of pioneers who 


202 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


carved congregations out of the wilderness and 
erected churches before the foundations of civil 
government were laid. Penetrating thousands 
of miles into the barbaric night of that great 
empire which lay between the Mississippi and 
the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and the remotest 
habitation of man within the Arctic zone, he has 
gathered hundreds of congregations and founded 
a hundred churches on the Word of God and 
‘according to the pattern shown us in the 
~mount.’; Deeds speak louder than words, and 
these churches which lighten up the wilderness 
and make glad the solitary places are to-day 
rolling up the long-meter doxology from the 
plains of Minnesota, the rock-ribbed mountains 
of Colorado, and the ice-bound shores of Alaska, 
praising God for the loyalty of this one man to 
the ‘Old Book.’ ” 

The speaker answered in advance the question 
as to his candidate’s executive ability by re- 
ferring to the estimate of him made by the 
United States Government as shown by the re- 
peated appointments for work in Alaska. To 
the objection that Dr. Jackson’s activity for the 
government was purely secular work, he in- 
sisted that his secular occupation had brought 
honour to the Church. He claimed that Dr. 
Jackson deserved the Moderatorship because of 
his untiring missionary work—in which he had 
travelled a distance equal to twenty-four circuits 





“The Little Missionary Delegate” 203 


of the globe ; because of his work for education, 
including the founding of Westminster College 
at Salt Lake City, to which he had given his 
small property; because of his qualities as 
statesman and philanthropist. 

Then the enthusiasm of the Assembly was 
aroused by the statement that he was one of 
whom the future historian would write: 

“In a time of famine and distress, when their 
food supply was gone, he crossed the ice regions 
of the North, penetrated into the fastnesses of 
Siberia and saved the native races of Alaska by 
introducing large herds of reindeer for their sub- 
sistence and support.” 

Turning to the Moderator, the speaker said : 

« Sir, this deed alone entitles him to the ad- 
miration of mankind, and will yet place his name 
in the Pantheon of philanthropy with all the 
honours of an uncrowned king.” 

The close of Dr. Spining’s address completed 
the conquest of the Assembly : 

“ Brethren, I had a dream to-day, which was 
not all a dream. In my vision I saw a corridor 
reaching from this platform back and upward to 
the first century. Out of a door in that century 
came a man of small stature; bronzed, scarred, 
and weatherbeaten; a dim halo of glory was 
about him, and while he wore the panoply of a 
soldier of the cross, he carried above him a 
tattered flag, like those of veteran soldiers re- 


204 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


turning from war. Upon it I read the names 
Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi and Rome, and as he 
reached this platform, I said to myself, Surely 1 
cannot be mistaken; this is none other than the 
Apostle Paul, the great missionary to the Gen- 
tiles. I ventured to inform him as to the char- 
acter of our assembly, and to assure him that 
the system of theology in which we believed was 
that which he had outlined as being in con- 
formity with the Word of God. He seemed 
deeply interested, and after speaking to him of 
the growth of our Church and of our missionary 
work I offered to introduce him to some of the 
distinguished members of this assembly. ‘ Here, 
for instance, said I, ‘is Benjamin Harrison.’ 
‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘a worthy successor of Wash- 
ington—a Christian statesman, and an elder be- 
loved. I would like to meet him, but not now ; 
I will see him later.’ I said, ‘ Here is also Gen- 
eral Wanamaker.’ ‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘1 know 
his record from that of a poor boy to wealth 
and high public position. I know his evan- 
gelical spirit, his liberality, his personal work— 
and that he hath built us a grand synagogue 
where Christ only is preached. I long to meet 
him—but wait a while, I will see him later.’ I 
said, ‘ Here also is James A. Mount.’ ‘ Yes,’ he 
answered, ‘he is governor of the great state of 
Indiana. An elder in a little country church— 
has ordered his household in the fear of God, has 


“The Little Missionary Delegate” 205 


a daughter in the foreign field and ason a home 
missionary. I long to meet him—but not now; 
I will see him later.’ 

«« Here,’ said I, ‘is our Moderator, Dr. Withrow, 
who has just swept the gospel harp with a master 
hand and filled our souls with the music of divine 
charity.’ ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘he is a man after 
mine own heart—a beloved disciple—I must see 
him, but not now;I will see him later.’ I then 
remarked that we had some notable Christian 
women here, Mrs. James, Mrs. Pierson, and many 
others. ‘ Yes, he answered, they are all beloved 
helpers in the Lord—I must meet them also, but 
not now;I1 will see them later... ‘ Whom then,’ 
said I,‘do you first wish to see?’ He looked 
carefully over the assembly and then answered, 
‘Is there not a little bronzed missionary from 
Alaska here—a man about my size—a man of 
weak eyes and insignificant bodily presence—a 
man in whom the apostolic zeal of ancient times 
has found expression in the New World, and 
who has had the care of ali the churches in the 
regions beyond ?’ 

«¢ Ah,’ I cried, ‘I know whom you mean,’ 
and not waiting to hear another word I sought, 
found, and presented Sheldon Jackson. 

“¢ True yoke-fellow and brother beloved,’ said 
Paul, ‘we are physically small—God made us 
short that we might accommodate ourselves to 
circumstances and magnify His grace. I rejoice 


206 — The Alaskan Pathfinder 


that primitive zeal still flames in the Church, and 
that here and in foreign lands are thousands of 
standard-bearers of the cross who may not rest 
until the nations that sit in darkness have seen a 
great light, and the world is filled with the 
knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea; 
“be thou faithful unto death and let no man take 
thy crown.”’ 

«“ Moderator and brethren, here my vision ends, 
and I believe in my soul that if this assembly 
elects this missionary leader as its standard- 
bearer, that act will be as a trumpet call to mis- 
sionary endeavour; and our whole beloved 
Church will make a forward movement towards 
the conquest of this and all other lands for 
Christ.” 

Others eagerly added their words of praise. 
One of these was a home missionary who 
spoke of him as “a man whose work is known 
from the Mississippi to our farthest northern 
boundaries ; a man whose name is a household 
word from where the orange blossoms waft their 
fragrance in sunny Southland, to where the icy 
crags point their glittering spires heavenward in 
far-off Alaska; and from where the heaving bil- 
lows of the Atlantic Ocean dash into ten thou- 
sand sparkling rain-drops on New England’s 
rock-bound coast to where the shining sands of 
the Golden Gate are laved by the waters of the 
mighty Pacific.” 


“The Little Missionary Delegate’ 207 


The election that followed was a triumph—the 
little Alaska missionary was chosen Moderator 
by an unsually large majority. 

The newspaper reporters were quick to make 
copy of the picturesque features of the Moder- 
ator’s life. One of them wrote: 

«<«Wild rider of the Sierras!’ ‘The Buffalo 
Bill of Presbyterianism in the wild West.’ Such 
are two of the cognomens of Dr. Sheldon Jackson, 
who has been elected Moderator of the General 
Assembly. From the rough and ready mis- 
sionary work in unknown and untried fields to the 
position of Moderator is a far cry. Yet there is 
not a Presbyterian in the country who will say 
that Dr. Jackson has not earned this high posi- 
tion, not only because of his work in building up 
the Church, but because of his learning, which 
years of toil far away from civilization have not 
been able to dull, The career of the new Moder- 
ator has been similar to that of the brave pioneer 
who fought his way through virgin forests and 
through hostile bands of Indians in the early days 
of the West’s awakening. His was in the relig- 
ious field, however, while the pioneer fought for 
home and comfort. 

«“ Dr. Jackson is the rough heroic figure of the 
century. He is the pioneer of the Church, the 
man who has done more riding for Christianity 
and who has won more fights for Presbyterianism 
than any other member of the Church. He is 


208 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


of the militant type. No minister in the Church 
can show such a record. He has organized 
hundreds of churches. In some cases the seed 
has fallen on barren rock and after a brief season 
of bloom has perished in the burning sun. But 
one hundred churches, some of immense influence, 
flourish exceedingly, owing only a large debt of 
gratitude to the Wild Rider of the Sierras. 
Afoot, on horseback, any way to get there, he 
went and left a trail of Presbyterians behind him 
in the West. His presence in a region was 
recognized by a trail of dust in the air, raised by 
the heels of his bucking broncho.” 

Within ten days after the adjournment of the 
Assembly, Dr. Jackson was on his way to Seattle, 
where he was to take steamer for Alaska. He 
returned in time to take the trip to Lapland, as 
outlined in the last chapter. Then he went to 
Alaska again, and was back in the United States 
just in time for the next General Assembly, where 
he preached the opening sermon and turned over 
his office to his successor, 


XXI 
‘*LIKE A MAJESTIC LINER”? 


The last cruise—Enemies renew attacks— 
Vindicatton—Working till the last—The 
end of the voyage. 


OR ten years after laying down his 
H honours as Moderator, Dr, Jackson con- 

tinued his work as General Agent of 
Education for Alaska, 

In 1899 the northern journey was extended to 
Kamchatka, for the purpose of buying reindeer, 
the natives of Siberia being unwilling to sell 
more animals, During his absence on this mis- 
sion, enemies in Alaska complained to the United 
States Grand Jury that there had been financial 
irregularity in connection with his conduct of 
educational affairs in Alaska. Careful investiga- 
tion of the charges showed that they were abso- 
lutely unfounded. 

In 1900 he made what proved to be his last 
cruise to the Arctic. He was absent five months, 
travelled 16,587 miles, purchased more reindeer 
and put the schools of the territory on a better 
basis than ever. Failing health—due to ex- 
posures and hardship—made it necessary to turn 

209 


210 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


over a part of the work to an assistant. Since 
1886 he had spent hardly a day free from pain. 
In spite of the fact that his disease made rapid 
progress, he determined, in 1903, to make another 
Alaskan tour, but his physicians warned him not 
to carry out hispurpose, From that time he was 
content to direct the work from Washington, leav- 
ing the execution of his plans to an assistant. 


Enemies took advantage of his inability to ~ 


move about the country with his old-time vigour 
by making another attack on his record. It was 
declared that the government had been wronged 
in the distribution of the reindeer herds, and in 
the contracts make with mission stations. Asa 
part of the attack, the recommendation was made 
to Congress that the herds be taken from the 
missions, but the action of Congress was a com- 
plete vindication of Dr. Jackson’s methods. It 
was directed that “all reindeer owned by the 
United States in Alaska shall, as soon as practi- 
cable, be turned over to the missions, to be held 
and used by them under such conditions as the 
Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe.” 

In the spring of 1907 Dr. Jackson submitted 
to an operation. A second operation followed a 
few months later. While these operations re- 
lieved his sufferings, he was much weakened by 
them, and for a long time his life hung in the 
balance. 

His closing years were spent with his family in 


oo ee _ ee 


“ Like a Majestic Liner ”’ 211 


Washington. Mrs. Jackson—with whom he had 
lived fifty happy years—ministered to him during 
the long season of pain. She had a large part 
in keeping him in such a degree of health that 
he was able to perform many of his duties. 

Six weeks after the celebration of the fiftieth 
anniversary of his marriage, Dr. Jackson resigned 
his office. During the summer Mrs, Jackson 
was taken ill suddenly and passed away. 

Not even yet was the tireless worker willing 
to take the rest he had earned. In October, 
1908, he was present at the Indian Conference at 
Lake Mohonk, New York, and made a number 
of missionary addresses at other points. In Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania, several months later, he as- 
sisted in baptizing eight Indians. In Marchhe 
went to Baltimore to make a missionary address 
and caught a severe cold from which he never 
fully recovered. 

In spite of weakness, he made an address on 
Alaska in April, 1909. This proved to be his 
final presentation of the work to which he had 
devoted his life. On April 27 he was taken to 
the hospital at Asheville, North Carolina, for 
another operation, in the hope that this would 
bring relief from the internal disorder which 
caused him intense pain. From the effects of 
this operation he never recovered. 

One who was with him at the last said: 

«As he felt the end was near he quietly told 


212 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


his nurse not to give him further stimulants. As 
she protested, and said the orders of the doctor 
were to give him his medicine, he replied, ‘My 
orders are that I am not to take it. I am going 
to die.” Then, like a majestic liner, slowly disap- 
pearing below the horizon, he passed out of this 
life: 7 

On the fifty-first anniversary of his ordination 
to the ministry, at his birthplace, Minaville, New 
York, the worn-out body was laid to rest by the 
side of his wife. 


XXII 


SECRETS OF SHELDON JACKSON'S 
ACHIEVEMENTS 


Energetic — Methodical — Prompt—Thorough 
—Practical—A man of viston—Accurate— 
Sympathettc—Trustworthy—A man of ex- 
ecutive abtlity—A judge of men— Generous 
—FPatient—Making allowances for others— 
Ready to acknowledge mtstakes—wNot self- 
seeking—Able to keep his temper—Never 
looked down on hts work— Dependence upon 
God—Did not worry—A man of prayer. 


T is worth while to stop and think of some 

| of the secrets of a life that counted so much 

in the development of his country and the 
Church. 

Dr. Jackson was energetic. He was never 
idle by choice. If circumstances compelled him 
to be inactive, he submitted with a good grace, 
but it was seldom that he had to submit; usually 
there was something to which he could turn his 
attention. When delayed in his Arctic journeys 
by ice, he wrote for the papers the articles that 
kept the Church informed concerning his work, 
made plans for future activity, or gave his mind 
to some of the many things he was compelled to 


213 


214 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


postpone till just such a time as this. When he 
was on the way to Lapland to buy reindeer for 
the starving miners of Alaska, he wrote his re- 
port to the Department of Agriculture on the 
agricultural* possibilities of the Yukon Valley. 
So it was also when his steamer was stuck fast 
on a river sand-bar, when he missed a communi- 
cation and had to wait for hours at a junction, 
when the stage-coach broke down in the moun- 
tains: he was always active. 

“TI must work the works of Him that sent me 
while it is day; the night cometh when no man 
can work,” was one of the three mottoes he some- 
times wrote on the first page of the diary opened 
at the beginning of a new year. 

fle was methodical, Wis work was planned 
for days and even months ahead. He knew ex- 
actly what he wanted to do, and how he proposed 
to do it. There was nothing haphazard in his 
life. The entries in his diaries and cash books 
clearly reveal this trajt. 

fle was prompt. Ve knew the importance of 
keeping an engagement on time, and he was 
noted for his ability to do this. To him it was 
as unreasonable that a man should be late when 
he had promised to be at a certain place at a 
definite time as it was that he should miss a train 
by being a minute late. \ This regard for time — 
enabled him to turn promptly from one duty to 
another. Never did he pause a few hours or 


Secrets of Jackson’s Achievements 215 


days after completing a piece of work to pat 
himself on the back concerning it before turning 
to something else. “ Ye nexte thynge” might 
well have been put down as one of his life mottoes. 
“ When does Sheldon Jackson return from his 
trip?” the inquiry would be made. “Why, he 
returned two days ago, and is now a thousand 
miles away on a new trip,’ often the answer 
could be given. 

fle was thorough. He was never so eager to 
turn to another duty that the preceding duty was 
done only in part. No one had to come after 
him and gather up loose ends. |, “ Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,” 
was the second of the mottoes written in his 
diaries, 

fle was practical. There was nothing vision- 
ary about him. Everything he planned must be 
for some good and useful purpose ; nothing else 
was considered. He never organized a church 
because he wanted to add one more organization 
to his record; that church must be needed. 
Sometimes later events showed that he made a 
mistake in judgment, for some of the churches 
planted by him disappeared ; but usually this was 
because of changing conditions in the com- 
munity which he could not foresee. 

He was aman of vision. He showed that there 
is a difference between the visionary man and the 
man of vision. His power of vision enabled him to 


216 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


prophesy the future development of the West. 
When others said it was useless to give so much 
time to missionary work in the mountains and on 
the plains, where few people were, and few more 
could ever* live, he declared his belief that the 
day was not far distant when the regions then so 
desolate would be centres of population. When 
many of the leaders of the nation declared that 
Alaska was our worst national investment, he 
looked forward to the day when the country would 
be one of our greatest assets. When the Eskimos 
were dying of starvation, and he was urged to let 
them starve, as they amounted to nothing, he as- 
sured Congress and other objectors that there were 
great possibilities in these people. When it was 
said that effort to bring the reindeer from Siberia 
would be wasted, he went quietly on his way, 
because his prophet’s vision enabled him to see 
the day when on the tundra of Alaska there 
would be tens of thousands of the patient, life- 
preserving animals, 

He was accurate. He did not speak in 
general terms; he said exactly what he meant. 
When he took the material for a schoolhouse to 
Alaska, he planned for just enough to complete 
the required work; every joist, every bit of 
sheathing, every roll of building paper, every | 
pound of builders’ hardware that would be 
necessary was on hand when needed. In his 
diary he wrote the inventory of supplies for these 


Secrets of Jackson’s Achievements 217 


buildings as carefully as he kept account of the 
expenditure of personal and government funds. 
This training in accurate habits enabled him to 
disprove the charges of careless and even dis- 
honest use of funds, when these were made by 
enemies. 

fle was sympathetic. He appreciated the trials 
and hardships of others, because he had himself 
been through like experiences. He could under- 
stand the life of the lonely home missionary in 
New Mexico or Alaska, because he had endured 
loneliness and hardship like theirs. He knew 
what he was asking others to suffer when he sent 
them to the Arctic circle, for he had been to the 
Arctic in all kinds of weather and under all sorts 
of conditions. 

Fle was trustworthy. His associates found that 
he could be depended on under all circumstances. 
There was never any need to make allowance for 
his words. If Sheldon Jackson said a thing, it 
was Safe to receive hisstatement. If he promised 
to do a thing, those who knew him expected that 
thing to be done. In his early life he was faith- 
ful in the performance of small tasks, and in his 
later life larger tasks were committed to him. 
Everybody could count on Sheldon Jackson. 

He was a man of remarkable executive ability. 
He carried out his plans with a genius that was 
a continual surprise to those who are accustomed 
to doing large things. He would have been 4 


218 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


brilliant success as a railroad man, a business man, 
or a manufacturer. The achievements of fifty 
years show conclusively that he was worthy to 
be named in any catalogue of the Captains of In- 
dustry who- have done large things for the de- 
velopment of the country. 

Fle was a good judge of men. He knew how 
to choose an associate. Year after year he visited 
the theological seminaries, interviewed the stu- 
dents, persuaded some who had not thought of 
home missionary work to go with him to the 
field, and assured others who were eager to go 
that they had better stay in the East. The com- 
ments made in his note-books on the names of 
students interviewed would be interesting reading 
if they should be made public. In connection 
with some man’s name he would say, “ Good 
man; get him by all means.” Against other 
names would be the memorandum: “ Will not 
do for the West;” “ Better take a field nearer 
home;” “He has not the stuff of the pioneer.” 
Nearly every one of those of whom he formed a 
favourable judgment made good in the West. 

fle was generous. ‘Time, comfort, money— 
_ everything—he was willing to give up for others. 
He felt that he was in the world to give all that 
he had for other people. He saved from his 
small income, increased the amount by judicious 
investments, and gave all his savings and much 
of his inheritance to found Westminster College 





i 
* 
4 
i 
i 
4 
bi 


Secrets of Jackson’s Achievements 219 


at Salt Lake City, Utah. He helped scores of 
needy home missionaries out of his own pocket. 
He never hesitated if some one needed the help 
he could give, but added that man’s burden to 
his own. 

fle was patient. Ue did not give up because 
it was a long time till he saw results ; he persisted 
in his work, knowing that in due season he would 
reap his reward. 

fle could make allowances for others. He did 
not expect that all would look at things as he did. 
He did not make the mistake of thinking that 
others should be as energetic as himself. He 
was not quick to judge others when it seemed 
that their actions were not above reproach. 

fle was ready to acknowledge mistakes. He 
made mistakes, as all men do. But after the 
mistake was discovered, he did not persist ina 
course of action simply because he was too proud 
to own himself in the wrong. 

He was not self-seeking. He forgot self in his 
work. With him fame was a very minor con- 
sideration, if he ever gave it a thought. He was 
a follower of Him who came “not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister,’ and—though fame 
came to him—something better than fame was 
his reward. He lives to-day in those whose lives 
he has influenced. 

He was able to keep his temper. Many times 
his reputation was assailed by those who mis- 


220 The Alaskan Pathfinder 


understood him, by those whom his sterling in- 
tegrity interfered with, by those who were jealous 
of his influence and success. But he was always 
serene in the face of attack. He did not hurry 
from Alaska to Washington to defend himself, 
but went on with his work. He did not rush 
into print in his own defense. Sometimes he 
made no reference to the attacks even in his 
diary. When areference seemed necessary there 
was no evidence that he felt affronted, and there 
was no comment. During his trip to Lapland 
charges and threats were made by a firm of Nor- 
wegian merchants with whom he had done busi- 
ness, and scurrilous telegrams and letters were 
sent him. He was content to make record of 
these in his diary, adding to each the laconic 
statement: “Took no notice,’ or “No reply.” 
It isa mark of greatness to be able to be quiet 
under such conditions. 

Fle never felt that any work worth while was 
beneath him. He was a minister, but he could 
handle a spade if necessary. Because he worked 
with the miners of the West he won their respect. 
Frequently he would aid a labourer when his work 
was necessary. In Alaska he was never too dig- 
nified to employ the natives for work on the 
school buildings; he acted as overseer, kept time 
for them, and paid them the amounts due for 
their services. 

Always his dependence was on God. His life 


Secrets of Jackson’s Achievements 221 


was devoted to God’s service, and he trusted God 
for the fulfillment of His promises. He was aman 
of practical faith and he knew how to inspire 
others with faith like his pwn. 

FTe did not worry. He knew that he was in 
God’s hands. He did his best, and left the results 
with God. To him this was the only conceivable 
course for a Christian. 

Finally, he was a man of prayer. Daily, hourly, 
he was in touch with God. Entries in his diary 
indicate what a large place prayer had in his life. 
« Talked with God as the old year passed and the 
New Year began;” “Spent the day in prayer 
for God's blessing;” “ Prayer for God’s blessing 
on the pastors and ruling elders ’’—such state- 
ments give glimpses into the heart life of a man 
who was strong for conquest because he was daily 
receiving power from the Source of all strength. 


' Nothing in myself; all things in Christ ” was - 


the third of the mottoes written again and again 
in his diary. And thus he was able to live so 
that this was said of him: 

«“ You have stood for all our Gospel means, not 
in a luxurious parish or splendid college, but out 
yonder on the edge of things where God's most 
friendless children turn towards you the eyes of 
pathos and hope.” 


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